Blinding Love
by Bauerbaby24
Summary: With the battle approaching, Hermione is put into a very difficult position that will decide the outcome of the war. But what role does Severus Snape play in her fate? HG/SS
1. Chapter 1: The Fight

With the battle approaching, Hermione is put into a very difficult position that will decide the outcome of the war. But what role does Severus Snape play in her fate?

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter—JK Rowling is the brilliant one deserving all credit.

Chapter 1: The Fight

The training and planning was becoming more extensive every day, for they knew the battle would be approaching soon. The spells were becoming more aggressive and it became more frequent that a duel would come to a halt because someone needed a blood replenishing potion or their broken bones mended.

Hermione Granger dodged a nasty slicing spell, rolled gracefully to the ground, and found protection behind a cluster of trees all in a matter of seconds. When it came to dueling, Granger was the one everyone sought to beat, although, that rarely ever happened. She had trained with more passion and eagerness than anyone in the group and developed a skill for dueling that impressed even the best.

Staying behind the trees, Hermione assessed her situation: 5 down, 2 injured, and 3 on the prowl, looking for their chance to best her. She obviously would not let that happen. After all, she was Hermione Granger.

Hearing the snap of a tree branch, a _Stupefy_ was wordless sent in that direction and hit it's mark.

Two hunters left now.

Quickly, she shot out from behind the trees and ran into the field, knowing she could draw them out without any danger to herself. She had reached the middle of the field, closed her eyes, and brought up her invisible barriers, a rather clever spell she has invented herself—undetectable and unbreakable with the exception of an Unforgivable Curse thrown at it. The two men left in the duel laughed as she ran out, apparently defenseless. Mistake Number 1: Do not doubt Hermione Granger's abilities. A _Stupefy _and a _Petrificus Totalus_ shot out of her wand and, with that, the duel was over.

Applause broke out on the opposite side of the field. _Of course he had been watching her, _Hermione thought, as she walked toward the man in the shadows. He was always watching carefully for her strengths and weaknesses, pointing out even the slightest flaw, though he said he only wanted her to be the best. But she was not afraid of him.

"He wants to see you Miss Granger. Don't bothering cleaning up, just head straight to His chambers. There is a _special_ project He wants you to be a part of," the man hissed smoothly.

Hermione's eyes shot up in surprise at the emphasis on "special," and without a word, briskly marched off to find out what her new job was.

She walked through the beautiful halls of the mansion, replaying the duel in her head. The key to success was to memorize her opponent's weaknesses and turn use them to draw her enemies out so that she could squish them like flies. _It was fun_, Hermione thought, and although many could call Hermione somewhat uptight and serious, she truly found fighting most enjoyable; most likely because she always won. She reached the towering set of black doors and, after a deep breath, Hermione knocked and, hearing the command to enter, slowly opened the doors and approached the center of the room.

A black chair sat precisely in the middle of the luxurious room, facing Hermione. She dropped to her knees; bowing so low that her nose touched the cool title, and whispered, "My Lord, my services are yours. What do you require me to do?"

She looked up into the cold, cruel eyes of Lord Voldemort and waited for instructions.


	2. Chapter 2: The Instructions

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter—JK Rowling is the brilliant one deserving all credit.

A/N: This story will follow books 1-5 and some of 6. In my story, Dumbledore isn't dead and Harry went back to school for his 7th year. Also Horcruxes do not exist. We also get to the more mature themes in this chapter so be warned and be of age if you're reading. Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 2: The Instructions

"My dearest Hermione," Lord Voldemort spoke softly, observing her carefully, "I have a very important mission for you—a mission that will destroy Harry Potter."

Hermione felt chills run through her body. She knew this moment had been coming but she wasn't aware the success of the mission would depend on her. Hermione mentally pulled herself together, looked up at her master and smiled widely.

"I am so pleased I can be of such a great service to you, My Lord. What do you require me to do?" Hermione knew this was the plan that Voldemort had been scheming for the past 3 years—ever since Harry Potter escaped from the graveyard.

Voldemort glanced at her before he spoke. "I always knew you were special Hermione. Ever since my Death Eaters saved you from the fire that killed your parents and brought you to me, I knew you could do things others could not. You have been training for a long time and I believe you are ready to serve me in the most important way possible."

Hermione, still on her knees, was holding her breath, waiting for Voldemort to give her the instructions. He always did enjoy holding others in suspense, but Hermione desperately wanted to know her job.

"I want you to become a student at Hogwarts, the place where Dumbledore has kept Potter hidden away all these years. I want you to become his friend. I want him to trust you. Then I want you to bring him to me so that I can kill him. Can you do that for me, Hermione?"

Hermione looked up at her master. So this was the plan that had taken him 3 years to come up with? A plan that solely depended on her. He could just hide away in his beautiful, unplottable castle and let her do all the work. Hermione pushed those thoughts deep into her mind and replied, "Of course, My Lord. I am honored to be the one to bring you Potter. I will not disappoint you."

Lord Voldemort smiled slightly, his snake-like eyes gleaming with power. He said, "I am glad you will do this for me, Hermione. It will be difficult, but I know you will not fail. You must not fail me. Now go and plan with Severus. There is a lot of preparation that must be done and not much time to do it. The Hogwarts Express will leave in two weeks and you must be on it, like all the other normal students. Go now."

Hermione slowly stood, walked forward and kissed the hem of her master's robes. She looked up at him, smiled, and said, "Thank you, Master. All the preparations will be made in time." Hermione briskly walked out of the room and the black doors shut behind her. Only then did her smile fall.

Deep in thought, she began to walk through the castle to Severus's quarters. Hermione knew this castle like the back of her hand, having lived here all the life. At least since her parents were killed when she was only a few months old. She found herself in front of Snape's door and knocked quickly.

After only a few moments, the door opened to reveal Severus Snape in his black robes and his stony expression. Hermione slid past him, walked into the room, and threw herself on the black, leather couch.

After ensuring his silencing charms were in place, Severus spoke. "So I am assuming He has informed you of his _brilliant_ plan," he said as he poured Hermione and himself a drink and went to sit next to her.

"Brilliant," Hermione said sarcastically. "This is the plan that has been in the making for two years? He has put the entire outcome of the mission on my shoulders. There must be more to it. Something he isn't telling us." Hermione took her drink from Severus and took a sip. Firewhiskey. Just what she needed at the moment. Hermione thought for a moment and said, "At least I get to go to school. It'll be a nice change to be taught by more professors than only you."

Severus grabbed his heart, faking pain. "Are you trying to tell me that I'm not enough for you? How will I ever survive," he said jokingly.

"Oh, you'll always be my favorite professor," Hermione stated, "But now I can impress more people with my never ending knowledge." Hermione smiled up at him, her eyes sparkling. Severus could tell she was excited for the opportunity.

"You just have to remember your true purpose, Hermione. Deceiving Harry Potter and delivering him to Voldemort," Snape said, bringing Hermione back to reality.

"You're right," Hermione replied. "Any ideas on how we are going to get around that?"

Snape smirked, "Oh, I have quite a few ideas. Although, I'm not sure any could guarantee Potter surviving. We can talk about that later though. I haven't seen you all week and right now the only thing I can focus on is getting you into my bedroom as fast as possible."

Hermione grinned widely and threw her leg over him, straddling him. "I think that can be arranged," Hermione said and drew him into a deep kiss while apparating them to his bedroom.

They made their way across the room and Snape pushed her onto the bed. After kicking off his shoes, he climbed on top of her and began kissing his way down her body, removing her clothes as he went. Hermione moaned in satisfaction as he reached her breasts and took one of her rosy nipples into his mouth, sucking hard.

Hermione, performing wandless magic, vanished the rest of their clothes, loving the skin on skin contact. Severus made his way lower, kissing down her stomach and making his way to her creamy, white legs. Growing impatient, Hermione pulled Severus's head to hers, bringing their lips together. She roughly bucked up against his body and wrapped her legs around him. Severus groaned in pleasure as she ground her hips into him, feeling him harden even more.

Severus suddenly found himself flipped over with Hermione on top of him. He firmly gripped her hips as she impaled herself on his rock hard member. She bent over to kiss him, her breasts grazing his chest, slowly riding him. Her slow, tortuous pace continued until Severus could take no more and he sat up, flipped her underneath him, and ground into her faster and faster. Minutes later, she came, screaming his name and he followed soon after.

He rolled off of her, pulling her closer to him and kissed her forehead. She smiled and got up to get dressed. She turned around to look at him and said, "You better get dressed too. We have a lot of work to do if we want Harry Potter to survive."

_Let me know what you think! Next chapter will explain more about Hermione's past._


	3. Chapter 3: The History

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter—JK Rowling is the brilliant one deserving all credit.

**A/N: I am looking for a Beta! I'm trying really hard to make the chapters as solid as possible but I would love for someone to read them to check for grammar and whatnot before I post! Please send me a message if you are interested :)**

Chapter 3: The History

_**December 10, 1979 **_

_(3 Months Old)_

The sky looked beautiful tonight. There was no moon, but the stars sparkled with a great intensity. In the suburbs of England, in a small, quaint house, were Robert and Jane Granger, sitting on their couch as they peered through the window, staring up at the beautiful stars. Jane's head rested on Robert's shoulder as they sipped their hot cocoa, speaking quietly about their day. In Robert's lap sat a two month old Hermione Granger with a full head of beautiful, brown curls. She was sound asleep, her tiny hand wrapped around her father's pointer finger.

As their grandfather clock stroked 10 o' clock, the Grangers were startled out of their blissful moment by what sounded like gunfire right outside their front door. Robert quickly placed the now awake Hermione into Jane's arms and went to the front door to see what had caused the commotion.

Unfortunately, Robert did find out what caused the disturbance—7 masked men with the power to blow his locked front door off its hinges. Robert didn't have time to utter a word before there was a flash of green light and he was dead on the floor.

Jane screamed, horrified at what the masked men had done to her husband. She fell to her knees, shielding Hermione from the men. No more than seconds later was she dead as well.

A new Death eater, Severus Snape, watched as Lucius Malfoy threw the mother's body aside and went to kill the baby. The baby sat up, looked at Malfoy in a curious way and pointed her finger at him. Every Death Eater in the house was shocked when Lucius flew across the room. This baby was magical, Lucius decided, and they were going to take her to Voldemort.

When they reached Voldemort's mansion, Malfoy presented the baby to Voldemort. Everyone expected him to flick his wand and kill her but instead he said, "This baby will be raised to be a Death Eater. She will never know we were the ones to kill her parents. I have shown her mercy tonight and have saved her from her muggle, unworthy parents. Now she has a chance at true glory."…

_**October 31, 1981**_

_(2 Years Old)_

There was a lot of screaming and yelling in Malfoy Manor. Was it true that their Mater was dead? The Inner Circle gathered in Lucius's sitting room, arguing about the Death Eaters next steps if their Lord was dead. Some wanted to continue with their Lord's wishes. Some wanted to take their families, pack up their belongings, and hide. Some wanted to pretend they weren't actually loyal Death Eaters. The arguing continued.

Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy slept upstairs in their cribs, unaware that their lives were changing forever.

Not many decisions were made between the Death Eaters that night, but two important ones were.

Decision Number One: Hermione would stay with the Malfoys, but be kept a secret to the Wizarding World.

Decision Number Two: Severus Snape was going to have a long conversation with Albus Dumbledore…

_**September 19, 1991**_

_(11 Years Old)_

Severus found Hermione shut up in her room at Malfoy Manor quietly reading a book. She was the only reason he ever visited the Malfoys at all, having lost his patience with Lucius's antics years ago. They may have been close while he was a true Death Eater, but now Severus was a different man. His students may refer to him as a "bastard" and a "slimy git," but he was surprisingly considered a relatively pleasant man among his co-workers and especially to Hermione.

Hermione, having spent her life shut up in Malfoy Manor and Voldemort's mansion, did not have many friends; only Severus and Draco. She did not mind, especially since they both made for very interesting conversation.

The knock on the door startled Hermione but, seeing that it was Severus, she shut her book and ran to give him a hug, smiling. She stepped back, looked at him, and said bluntly, "Severus, I am very angry at the moment."

Severus chuckled at the bluntness of her statement. She never was one to lie about her feelings.

"Well, are you going to tell me why, girl?" Severus responded, "I can hardly fix the problem if you just prattle on about being angry."

"I got my letter Severus," Hermione said, smiling now. "I was invited to go to Hogwarts! But Lucius and Narcissa won't let me." Her smile was gone now. "Draco gets to go but they are going to keep me here. Shut away, hidden from the rest of the world."

Severus saw how upset she was and he felt a pang in his heart. He hated seeing her upset.

"How about this," he began, an idea popping into his head, "I'll come here every weekend and teach you what I'm teaching my first years at Hogwarts. Maybe if you excel at Potions I could also teach you a bit of Charms and Transfiguration. Would you like that?"

Hermione threw her arms around his midsection and Severus smiled. She looked up at him with a glint and her eyes and said, "You're not going to have to worry about me excelling. Just don't run out of things to teach me." Severus just laughed…

_**June 25, 1994**_

_(15 Years Old)_

It was very late at night when Severus swept into Hermione's room. She was already in her pajamas, curled up in a chair, reading an extremely large book. She glanced up at him, concerned.

"He's back, Hermione," Severus panted, "Our Master is back."

Hermione slowly stood up, confused, and walked toward Severus. "Why do you look so upset Severus?" Hermione questioned, "Isn't that a good thing?"

Severus looked at her. He didn't want to have to tell her; she was still too young, he believed. He needed to though. If he was going to protect her, he had to be honest with her.

After a deep breath and some strong silencing wards cast, he started, "Sit down Hermione. I need to tell you how your parents really died."…

_**August 15, 1994**_

_(15 Years Old)_

He hid her under an invisibility cloak. He walked next to her on their way across the grounds and they made their way through the large double doors with ease. It was past curfew and they only passed a few professors on their way, no one asking where he had been or where he was going. Everyone knew better than to ask. He reached the gargoyle, murmured "Lemon drops," and they both made their way into Dumbledore's office.

Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk and looked up when Snape entered, his eyes twinkling. Snape checked to make sure all wards were in place and then said, "You can take off the cloak, Hermione."

Slowly, a fifteen year old year appeared before Dumbledore. Despite her bushy hair, she was quite beautiful, although unsure of herself at the moment.

"Good evening, my dear," said Dumbledore, "I have heard of many wonderful things about out you but I am sure you have not heard many good things about me."

Hermione was peering at him, obviously conflicted. "I believed you were the one to kill my parents up until two months ago," she began quietly, "My Lord always said you were to blame. You and Harry Potter. Instead, the people who have helped raised me for over a decade were involved in their deaths. It's a lot to take in."

Dumbledore smiled and nodded his head understandingly. From what Severus told him, she did not take it well in the beginning, even cursing Severus for lying to her all these years. She seemed strong though. Dumbledore said, "I know this is very hard for you, my dear, but you have a decision to make. We could hide you quite well—so that Voldemort could never find you." Both Hermione and Severus winced at hearing His name. "Or you could join the Order of the Phoenix as a spy and help defeat the man who killed you parents and so many more."

Hearing the word "spy," Severus stiffened. "That was not why I brought her here, Dumbledore," Severus spat, "I want her protected, not risking her life!"

Magic was swirling around Severus rapidly. It looked as if he would electrocute the first person he touched. He didn't want the life of a spy for Hermione. She was too important to him. He would not allow her to give up her life like he had to; she deserved better. She deserved to be safe.

Hermione stepped forward and placed her hand on Severus's shoulder, attempting to calm him. Hermione looked at Dumbledore and said seriously, "If becoming a spy will send that bastard to hell faster, then I'm in." She then sat down to hear what she would need to do, Severus standing behind her, defeated…

_**January 20, 1995**_

_(16 Years Old)_

Hermione knelt before Voldemort and said, "The lessons with Professor Snape are going well, My Lord. I should be able to take over brewing your potions very soon." She could not believe this was the man—if he could even be called a man—who the Malfoys idolized; who she was taught to love and idolized as well. She hated this man, but Severus had taught her to hide her feelings well.

Voldemort felt around inside her mind, checking for the truthfulness in the statement. "Why, my pet," he began, "are you still unable to fully take over for him? I was expecting more from you. You have disappointed your Lord." With a flick of his wand she was on the floor, feeling more pain than she had ever felt before. Although she was only held under the curse for a few seconds, she was shaking all over when it ended.

"Leave my presence. When I call for you again, I want to hear good news."

Hermione, still shaking, got up slowly, kissed her Masters feet, and scurried out of the room. The meetings with him were the worst part of being a spy. The second worst aspect of her job was dealing with a worried Severus after she returned from the meetings.

_Severus is going to throw a fit when he finds out He cursed me, _Hermione thought as she made her way Severus's rooms…

_**November 25, 1996**_

_(17 Years Old)_

It was just after midnight when Hermione snuck into Severus's quarters. The most important Death Eaters had each been given a wing in Voldemort's castle and Severus requested that she reside there, seeing as he was the only one actually concerned for her safety. She thought she could sneak into her room without having to deal with Severus, but she was wrong.

"Oh, you're finally home, are you?" He yelled angrily, "How was your date with Draco?"

"Sod off, Severus," Hermione yelled back. She was tired and did not want to deal with him behaving like an infant. "You are well aware that it was not a date. Draco is like my _brother_ and you know I needed a date to the ball. The Dark Lord required me to have one so I would look better to the soon-to-be Death Eaters. I don't know what your problem is but you better get over it fast because I can't stand you right now."

"I bet you can stand Draco just fine though," Snape said bitterly. Hermione wondered if he had been drinking. "What has Draco ever done for you? I'm the one who protects you, who teaches you, who loves—'' Snape stopped talking, shocked at what he had just let slip from his mouth.

Hermione looked at him as though he were a complete idiot. "Is that what your problem is?" Hermione began, "Because we could have avoided this whole damn fight if you had said so earlier. I would have told you that I loved you too."

"What?" Severus whispered in disbelief.

"I love you too," Hermione responded smiling. "Actually, I thought it was quite obvious. You are just absolutely and completely blind to my—''

Hermione wasn't able to get another word in. With three, quick strides, Severus was right next to Hermione and he pulled her against him, lowering his lips to hers in a deep and passionate kiss. Minutes later, they pulled away, breathing hard, smiling at each other…

_Kinda long but I hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter will be back to planning to kill-or not kill-Harry :)_


	4. Chapter 4: The Meeting

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter—JK Rowling is the brilliant one deserving all credit.

Chapter 4: The Meeting

In between training with their fellow Death Eaters, dining with the Malfoys, and coming up with a plan to present to the Dark Lord, Hermione and Severus spent numerous hours developing their plan to protect Harry and trick Voldemort. Both of them agreed that Voldemort was keeping a crucial part of his plan to himself, making their jobs quite difficult to do. Once Voldemort decides that it is time for Hermione to bring Harry to Him, it will be impossible to keep her status as spy if Harry didn't show up. This would also implicate Severus because every Death Eater, along with Voldemort, was quite aware that Severus and Hermione always worked as a team—the spy and the master duelist.

Hermione's fist idea was to use Polyjuice Potion to disguise someone as Harry, but it was quickly shot down when Severus reminded her that once Voldemort killed the person, he would return back to their normal body, ruining the plan. It would have also been impossible to pick the person who would die in Harry's place. It wouldn't work

They ran through many scenarios late at night when they weren't be disturbed; but all of their ideas were either too dangerous or couldn't guarantee Harry's safety.

"I need to meet him, Severus," Hermione said to him a week after she had been given the mission. Severus kept shooting down her ideas saying things such as "Potter couldn't pull that off" and "Remember, Potter isn't as capable as you" and Hermione was becoming frustrated. She continued, "If I meet him, I'll be able to learn his strengths and weaknesses. It's the only way I can help you form this plan."

Reluctantly, Severus agreed with her. Potter obviously couldn't meet her looking as she did though. Many Death Eaters did not believe in Snape's loyalty to the Dark Lord and therefore, also questioned Hermione's loyalty. They all knew never to question her in front of Voldemort though; he sees her as his favorite pet and punishes all who question her motives. In his own sick way, he loves her, which in reality, just makes Hermione more disgusted by Him.

The sons and daughters of many Death Easters will be tasked with the job of keeping a close watch on Hermione while she interacts with Harry, watching for even the smallest mistake to bring to Voldemort. Therefore, Harry cannot meet Hermione before she enters Hogwarts—his face would give them away immediately. Hermione and Severus have decided it best for Snape to teach Harry Occlumency once again. Only when he has mastered it, will he be allowed to know of Hermione's role as a spy. So far, Dumbledore and himself were the only members in the Order of the Phoenix who knew Hermione Granger existed, and Severus wanted to keep it that way, for her own safety.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(scene change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remus Lupin was waiting outside Number 12, Grimmauld Place, anxiously waiting for Severus and the mystery spy to arrive. Nearly 5 minutes later, he heard a _pop_ and two figures appeared behind a gathering of trees. One he recognized as Severus Snape and the other was much better looking, in his opinion. He stood staring at her, waiting for them to reach him.

Hermione would introduce herself to the Order of the Phoenix as a cousin of Dracos, which meant she had to use many glamour charms to play the part. She had lengthened her hair about 7 inches, charmed it platinum blonde, and used almost an entire bottle of Sleekeazy to reduce the bushiness. Now her beautiful hair flowed softly down to her mid-back and shimmered in the moonlight. Her eyes, now a light grey, matched her grey cloak, which covered her tight black pants and a ruby colored long sleeved shirt. Hermione had thought more people would accept her if she stayed far away from the color green. Her black boots almost made her as tall as Severus and her determined expression made her look like a confident spy—at least that was her goal.

Severus and Remus exchanged short nods before Remus handed them a piece of paper and told them to memorize it. Moments later, they saw the entrance to Grimmauld Place, and went through the door quickly.

"Everyone is already in the meeting," Remus said, "and the kids are upstairs. We warded against the Extendable Ears, as well."

"Good" Severus replied shortly. He was very tense. He wanted nothing to go wrong at this meeting. In, meet Potter, and out— that was the plan, anyways.

As they walked into the meeting, all conversations died and every member was now staring at Hermione. Severus found two empty chairs next to each other, sat down, and Hermione followed suit. First to speak was Mad Eye Moody.

"Is this some kind of joke, Dumbledore? She's obviously a _Malfoy _and no Malfoy is a good Malfoy." Others murmured their agreement.

"Stop," Dumbledore began, "I am fully confident that she is now a spy for us. That should be enough to ease your worries. Now the purpose of this meeting is for her to meet Harry. She will be allowed to ask all the questions she needs." Of course that was not accepted by many members.

"Albus!" Molly Weasley said, appalled, "you can't just let some- some- woman barge in and interrogate Harry. He doesn't need this. She could tell things to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

Hermione chuckled at the last statement and everyone snapped their heads towards her, sending her death glares. _Whoops, _thought Hermione.

"My apologies," Hermione said, "I just didn't know people called the Dark Lord that. I have been very isolated in my life." She made a mental note to hit Severus for not warning her they referred to Voldemort by such a ridiculous name.

"And that's another thing," Molly had started up again, "she's barely twenty. How are we supposed to let a child dictate a plan that could kill Harry? I just won't allow it."

Now, Severus was quite irritated. "Molly, do you honestly think I would let some idiot become a spy? Do you think me that stupid? I've been teaching this girl for years and she's smarter than most of the people in this damn room."

"There you have it!" Dumbledore clapped his hands appreciatively. "Severus and I have full confidence in her so that ends this discussion. Let us now get started. Harry?" Dumbledore looked at Harry, who was sitting in the chair to the right of him.

Hermione hadn't even noticed Harry Potter until this very moment. She studied him quickly. He did not look the way the Death Eaters described him. He looked like a normal boy.

"Sorry," Harry said politely, "I didn't seem to catch your name."

Hermione laughed. "That may be because no one has asked. You can call me Jane."

"Now, what would you like to know about me, Jane?" Harry questioned. "I'll tell you anything, seeing as you and Professor Snape are working very hard to keep me alive." Hermione really liked this guy. He seemed mature and understanding. It wouldn't be hard for her at all to become his friend once she was at Hogwarts.

"I really just need to know your strengths and weaknesses. What's your favorite class? What gets you irritated?" Hermione started to explain. "I've also heard you've faced the Dark Lord quite a few times. It'd be helpful for me to know how you escaped him then." Voldemort never did like to tell his Death Easters how a mere teenager could escape him on more than one occasion.

Harry began to talk about himself, first covering the questions she had asked, and then adding things that may be important. "I'm a great flyer, a decent swimmer, and a pretty good dueler," Harry continued. Even though he was listing many good characteristics about himself, he wasn't bragging or boasting. Hermione definitely liked him. She took a few notes but, between her and Severus, she was confident they would remember everything. A plan would now be a lot easier to form and she already had many ideas running through her mind.

Of course, the plan they told Harry and the Order would be different than the real plan since no one yet knew that Hermione would be attending Hogwarts. They would all have to know the actual plan at some point, but for now it was better for only Hermione, Severus, and Dumbledore to know.

Harry finished talking and the meeting appeared to be over. Hermione went to stand but stopped when Arthur Weasley stood up and looked straight at her.

"You may not know us and you may not like us," he said, "but it is now your duty to prevent He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named from killing Harry. I don't care what your reasons are for switching to our side, but you better not betray us. And that is for your sake."

Hermione looked at him, nodded, and finally stood up. She looked at Harry and said, "It was nice to meet you," and with that, she swept out the door, Severus behind her.

Returning to the clump of trees, they Apparated back to Voldemort's castle. They made their way, to Severus's wing, exhausted.

"Hermione, there you are!" Draco Malfoy called to her, "I've been looking for you everywhere."

_Review are very much appreciated! Hope you enjoyed the chapter._


	5. Chapter 5: The Discussion

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter—JK Rowling is the brilliant one deserving all credit.

**A/N: Everyone remember that this is rated M. Read and enjoy :)**

Chapter 5: The Discussion

Draco ran up to Hermione and picked her up, spinning her in a circle. "I can't believe I had to hear from Father that you were going to Hogwarts!" he exclaimed. Draco considered Hermione his best friend and always hated that she couldn't go to Hogwarts with him. "It's absolutely perfect. We get to spend the last year together!"

Hermione glanced at Severus and, understanding what she was saying, left the two of them alone. Hermione led Draco into the sitting room and they sat next to each other on the couch.

"You don't understand, Draco," Hermione tentatively began, "I'm not going to Hogwarts to learn; the Dark Lord gave me a mission." Seeing the confused look on Draco's face, she continued, "I need to become friends with Harry Potter and associating myself with you will not make him want to be my best friend or trust me." Hermione felt horrible that she would have to alienate Draco at school, but it was necessary for the task. Even though he still followed Voldemort loyally, he was her best friend. "We could meet sometimes in private," Hermione suggested. "I'm not sure how much privacy there is in Hogwarts, but we can make it work."

Draco's smile fell and his face had become a shade of red. "You have to play nice with POTTER," Draco yelled, "Un-fucking-believable. After all these years of having to have complete idiots as friends at school, you're finally coming and I don't even get to talk to you! Potter gets you and not me!"

Hermione loved Draco like a brother but couldn't tolerate him when the subject of Harry Potter was brought up. He had actually matured a lot over the years but any mention of Harry Potter and he turned into a five year old.

"Draco," Hermione tried to say patiently, "it's not like I _want_ to do this, but I have no choice. So unless you are going to go march up to the Dark Lord and demand that He give the mission to someone else, you are just going to have to get over it."

Draco looked down at his lap and mumbled, "That probably wouldn't be the best idea."

Hermione laughed. "No, probably not. We'll find some way to spend a little time with each other."

Draco, looking rather excited now, exclaimed, "I've got the perfect place—The Room of Requirement." He went on to tell a very interested Hermione how the Room of Requirement worked and all the wondrous things it could do.

"That's where we will meet," Hermione said, happy that was resolved. _It'll also be the perfect place for planning and training, _thought Hermione.

Hermione yawned and told Draco that it was time for him to leave so she could go to sleep. Draco gave her a hug good-bye and went back to his father's wing.

Hermione walked into their bedroom and found Severus still awake, reading a book.

"Did he take it well?" Severus inquired.

"As good as can be expected," Hermione replied as she changed into her pajamas and then climbed into bed. "It'll be hard for him to see his best friend with Harry Potter. It'll be hard for him to find out his best friend is a spy as well. I don't even want to think about that."

"Hmm," Severus began as he rolled on top of her, propping himself on his elbows. "Will this help you not think about it?" he whispered as he began to trail kisses down her neck.

"It only helps a little," Hermione replied, her hands sneaking underneath his shirt. "I think you're going to have to do a little bit more than kiss me though"

Severus growled and brought his lips to hers in a hot kiss, only breaking apart when Hermione pulled off his shirt. His tongue traced her lips and then slid inside her mouth, caressing her tongue. Hermione ran her nails down his back, leaving red marks as she went.

Severus then moved lower, unbuttoning the buttons on her shirt, letting the shirt fall open. He undid the clasp on her bra and tugged it and her shirt off her body, throwing the clothes onto the floor. He kissed his way down her neck and down to her breasts. As he took one nipple into his mouth, he brought his hand to her other breast, rolling the nipple between his fingers. Hermione moaned, loving the sensations that were traveling over her body.

Severus brought his mouth back up to hers while his hand traveled lower, working on the buttons on her pants. Hermione lifted up her hips off the bed and Severus pulled her pants and knickers off at the same time, happy that she was now completely naked. He slid his hand down between her thighs and entered two fingers into her, finding she was already wet. Hermione bucked into his hand, trying to make him go faster. He continued to stroke her until he knew she was close to coming. When he removed his fingers, Hermione groaned in frustration; but she became very pleased when he pulled his pants to his knees and entered her in one swift motion. She was now more than pleased.

Her hands returned to his back, clawing him harder than she previously had been. He pulled out almost fully and then slammed back into her, causing her to see stars. He continued to stroke her and soon he felt her muscles clench around him as she screamed his name. Feeling her tighten, Severus pounded into her one final time and then burst inside of her. Panting heavily, Severus pulled out of her and rolled next to her, placing an arm around her. She snuggled into his side and soon after, they fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(scene change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Draco entered his father's wing and found his father sitting in the living room, drinking a glass of Firewhiskey.

"Ah, Draco, I've been waiting for you," Lucius started, "Did you find our dear Hermione?"

"I did, Father," Draco replied. "She told me about the mission the Dark Lord has planned for her. I hate that she will have to spend time with Potter instead of me."

"Yes, yes, Draco, quite a shame," Lucius said dismissively, "Did Hermione seem confident? Does she really think that she can bring Potter to the Dark Lord?"

Draco looked as his father strangely. "Well, it is Hermione. She can do just about anything."

Lucius slammed his drink down on the end table near the couch, Firewhiskey splashing out onto the table. "I did not raise that child so she could become the Dark Lord's pet. It is supposed to be you, Draco. You should be the one to bring Potter to our Master. We would be rewarded beyond all other loyal Death Eaters. Isn't that what you want?

"Of course I do, Father," Draco said quickly, "but the Dark Lord gave this job to Hermione. She's part of our family anyways." Lucius looked at Draco with disappointment in his eyes and told him to leave.

Draco walked towards his room, confused by the conversation he had just had.


	6. Chapter 6: The Train

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter—JK Rowling is the brilliant one deserving all credit.

**A/N: I am so sorry it's been so long since my last update! This week has been a crazy one and hopefully I'll be back to updating every day for next week. This is the longest chapter I have written so enjoy!**

Chapter 6: The Train

The week before Hermione went to Hogwarts flew by in a whirlwind of commotion. She still had to train with her fellow Death Eaters and Voldemort had called for her every day for updates on her mission. Along with that, Severus was taking every opportunity to pull her into their bedroom for some much need, stress-relieving sex—who know how much time they would be able to spend together when they were both at Hogwarts? The night before they would both leave for school, they discussed what would happen between them at Hogwarts…

_Severus and Hermione were in bed together; Hermione was lying next to Severus with her head resting on his chest while Severus stroked her hair._

_ "Severus," Hermione began, "are you going to stop sleeping with me while we are at Hogwarts because you'll be my teacher?"_

_ Severus chuckled at this. He still loved her bluntness and found it funny that she asked. "Hermione, I have already taught you everything that the 7__th__ years will be learning this year. In my opinion, you aren't coming to Hogwarts as a student but as a spy. Our relationship isn't just sex; sex is just part of our relationship. I'm not giving you up because you're coming to Hogwarts—we will need to be careful not to get caught though._

_ "Good," Hermione murmured as she began to fall asleep, "because I like the sex."…_

Now, Hermione was walking through the crowds at Kings Cross Station, making her way to Platform 9 ¾ . Even though Severus said she had already learned everything in Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts, she was excited to attend different classes and show off her knowledge. She reached the barrier and walked through, finding herself in a whole new world.

She scanned through the crowd and saw many students with their parents, saying their final farewells. Off to her left, she saw Draco, Narcissa, and Lucius saying their goodbyes in a very non-emotional manner. The Malfoys would never show emotion in public. She turned right to avoid them and decided to search for Harry Potter. She circled the platform with her trunk rolling behind her but didn't see him or any of the Weasleys. Two minutes until 11 she found herself at the barrier again and was about to go board the train when she saw many people with red hair make their way onto the platform. Harry was with them.

"Hurry up, everyone," a flushed Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, "I still don't know why we had to make this a family affair. You all almost made Harry, Ron, and Ginny miss the train!" There were five red haired men with her—Hermione recognized three of them from her visit to Grimmauld Place. Hermione watched as Harry said good-bye to all the Weasleys, getting two hugs from Mrs. Weasley and exchanging many handshakes and pats on the back with Mr. Weasley and his sons.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny turned to make their way onto the train and Hermione followed behind them. Hermione decided she needed to meet Harry Potter on the train ride so that even if she wasn't in Gryffindor she would still have a chance of being his friend once they were at school. With her wand at her side, she pointed it at his backpack and whispered a spell to unzip it. Once it was open, she _Accioed _one of his textbooks and made it fall to the ground.

Hermione went to pick it up and yelled out, "Excuse me. I believe you dropped your textbook."

Harry turned around and saw that Hermione was talking to him. He reached his hand out to take the book and had almost turned back around when he stopped, looking confused.

"Wait a minute," Harry said looking at Hermione curiously, "I've never seen you before but you are definitely not a First year. What House are you in?"

"Actually," Hermione replied, "I'm new to Hogwarts. I used to go to a private school and I had been trying to transfer here since my third year."

"I've never heard of someone trying to transfer to Hogwarts," Ginny said suspiciously.

Hermione remembered Severus telling her that Harry and Ginny were dating. She had had a crush on him for years and they had finally begun dating in the middle of Harry's sixth year. Hermione looked at them closely; Ginny's hand was tightly wrapped around his arm and seemed to be pulling Harry away from Hermione. _A little too clingy, _Hermione thought.

"I was a special case," Hermione explained, "Last year parents moved to England and they wanted me at a school a little closer. Since I had already tried transferring, Professor Dumbledore was well aware of my high grades and the many activities I was President of and said he would be happy to admit me."

Harry released his arm from Ginny's grip, reached his hand out and said, "Well, I'm sure you'll love it at Hogwarts. It's very nice to meet you, my name is Harry Potter. What's yours?

Hermione shook his hand and said, "It's nice to meet you as well, Harry. I've obviously heard great things about you. My name is Hermione Granger."

"Would you like sit in a compartment with us, Hermione?" Harry asked her. Ginny looked horrified. Ron looked excited.

"That would be great, thanks," Hermione said, smiling. So far, her plan was working.

The group traveled to the end of the train and slid open the door to the last compartment. Finding no one in there, they went inside and started to put their trunks above the seats. Harry helped Ginny put hers up and then turned to Hermione to help her as well. Harry and Ginny sat next to each other while Hermione and Ron sat across from them.

"So," Hermione began, "what is Hogwarts like? I'm really excited for classes to begin."

Ron laughed, "That's the least exciting part. The best part is definitely Quidditch. And then the food. The house elves make amazing food and the feast tonight will be absolutely wonderful. Hermione was slightly annoyed by this statement. She wasn't interested in flying or food. Ron seemed immature and not very serious to Hermione.

Hermione looked at Ron and said, "I never really got into Quidditch. I'm more interested in academics than sports. My favorite classes are Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"At Hogwarts, Harry is the best at DADA. No one can beat him; he even started his own dueling club," Ginny bragged, "Also, you won't like Potions at Hogwarts—not with Snape teaching it."

Hermione now really didn't like her. Sure Severus can be a bastard sometimes, but he was an amazing teacher. Since she couldn't say that, she turned Harry and said, "Well, I would love to duel you sometime. I think I'd have a chance against you."

Harry smiled sheepishly, "Sure, that sounds fun. You can come to our dueling club if you'd like." Ginny didn't look very happy about his offer.

"Do you have any idea what House you'll be sorted into?" Ron inquired, "All of us are in Gryffindor."

"I have no idea," Hermione said, "I've read up on all of them and I think I would like to be in either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor."

"Good choices," Harry said, "I wonder how they will sort you. They do the Sorting for First years before the feast. Maybe you'll be sorted then. We'll cross our fingers and save you a seat at the Gryffindor table."

"Thanks," Hermione said, "It would be great to already know a couple people in the same House as me."

They continued to chat about different teachers at Hogwarts and who would win the House Cup this year. Ginny stayed mostly silent, playing with her hair and gripping Harry's hand like it was the only thing keeping her alive. Harry seemed annoyed by her attitude.

There was about thirty minutes left to the train ride when the compartment door slid open and Draco Malfoy appeared at the entrance along with two burly boys Hermione didn't know. She assumed they were Crabbe and Goyle. Hermione and Draco had talked about how they would treat each other while around other people and Hermione thought their hateful interactions would be quite fun to act out.

"Well what do we have here," Draco began, staring at Hermione, "Does Potter got himself another girlfriend? Or is she just an admirer. Not much to look at; her hair is quite bushy.

Before Harry or Ron could retort, Hermione said, "At least my hair isn't platinum blonde. Is that oil or gel in your hair, anyways?"

Draco turned red with anger but Hermione noticed the look of amusement in his eyes. She had said that to him many times before, always playfully. Harry and Ron laughed and even Ginny smiled at that.

"Think your funny, do you?" Draco snapped back, "Why are you here at all? You don't go to Hogwarts."

"It's none of your business but my parents moved and I transferred here," Hermione replied.

Draco said, "So are you are you muggle born or half and half. If you were a pureblood I would already know who you are."

"Muggle born," Hermione said. Draco smirked and Crabbe and Goyle laughed.

"So we have another filthy mudblood coming to attend Hogwarts. How unfortunate."

Harry stood up at this and pointed his wand at Draco's chest and said, "That's enough, Malfoy. You better leave before I curse you."

"I'll take care of it Harry," Hermione said, while pointed her wand at Draco. With a flick of her wrist Draco was sliding backwards as if he were on ice, bringing his goons with him. Once he was out of the compartment Hermione swished her wand and the door closed with a slam.

Harry and Ron looked at her amazed.

"How did you do that?" Ron asked, "I will remember to never get on your bad side."

Hermione grinned. "It's a spell I created. It's very useful in times like these."

"Cool," Harry replied, "I'll have to be on the lookout for it when we duel."

"You bet," Hermione said.

They changed into their school robes and waited for the train to stop. Hermione was getting more excited by the minute. She wished she could forget her job as a spy and just be a student for a year.

When the train finally slowed to a stop, Hermione jumped up and exclaimed, "Let's get going!" She quickly grabbed her trunk, slid open the door, and walked toward the exit. Harry and Ron quickly followed with Ginny bringing up the rear.

Once they caught up to her, Hermione asked, "So do we ride in the carriages with horses to get to Hogwarts?"

Harry, Ron, and Ginny all stopped and stared at her.

"You can see the thestrals too," Harry sad sadly, "If you don't mind me asking, who do you see die?"

_Shit,_ thought Hermione. She couldn't believe she had slipped up like that.

"Oh umm," Hermione said slowly, "one of my friends died in a car accident. I was in the car with her. It was a long time ago though."

"I'm sorry," Harry began, "It's horrible to watch people you love die."

They continued to walk towards the carriages in silence now. They climbed in and waited for the carriages to depart. A couple minutes later, a boy with a plump face climbed up into the carriage and said, "Hi Harry, Ron, and Ginny! How was your sum—oh I'm sorry. I didn't know you were with anyone else."

"That's quite alright," Hermione said sweetly, "there's plenty of room for you in here. What is your name?

"N-n-neville L-longbottom," he stammered, shocked that this unknown stranger was speaking to him.

His name hit Hermione like a ton of bricks. She had heard stories about the horrible things Bellatrix had done to a couple named Frank and Alice Longbottom. When she was younger, they told her that they were bad guys, but know she knew better. Hermione knew that this was their son and felt horrible that he was practically an orphan.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you Neville. My name is Hermione Granger." Hermione promised herself she would help him if he ever needed it. She felt she owed him that much.

They all began to talk about their summers and Hermione just listened quietly, absorbing all the information. Ten minutes later, they arrived at the entrance to Hogwarts. Hermione thought it was absolutely beautiful. They walked up the stairs and through the doors. They had made it no more than ten feet when a very strict-looking woman approached Hermione.

"Ms. Granger, I am Professor McGonagall. If you will follow me, I will explain to you how you will be sorted."

Hermione waved good-bye and followed Professor McGonagall into her office. She sat down in the chair in front of the desk and waited for McGonagall to speak.

"These are very strange circumstances, Ms. Granger," Professor McGonagall began, "No one has ever transferred to Hogwarts but Professor Dumbledore was very adamant."

"Yes, I know. I am very grateful to Professor Dumbledore for letting me come. I am very excited to finish my last year here."

"All right then," McGonagall said, "You will walk into the Great Hall with the First years and will be sorted last. Once you are sorted, join the table that you belong to. I will make sure that a Prefect will show you where your dormitory is."

"Thank you very much, Professor," said Hermione as she stood up and followed Professor McGonagall out of her office. She saw the nervous group of First years waiting by the door and went to join them. Professor McGonagall then opened the doors and Hermione stepped into the Great Hall for the first time.

_Let me know what you think! I love reviews :)_


	7. Chapter 7: The Sorting

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter—JK Rowling is the brilliant one deserving all credit.

Chapter 7: The Sorting

Hermione walked into the Great Hall and was absolutely blown away. She looked up at the ceiling and saw thousands of stars in the dark sky. Four tables ran through the Hall, full of happily chattering students. At the front of the Hall was another table where the professors sat. She saw Severus sitting near the end of the table, talking to a professor she recognized from her meeting with the Order.

Dumbledore stood up and the entire room went silent. He smiled and said, "Welcome back everyone. I hope you spent your summer forgetting all the things you learned last year so that we can fill your brains up once again! To our First Years and one other person—Welcome!" At this, everyone turned to look for the "other person," and saw Hermione among the First Years. They began to whisper quietly, but stopped when Dumbledore continued his speech.

"Now, now everyone. All will be explained later. Let the Sorting begin!"

Everyone looked in front of the professors table where a stool and an old hat were placed. Hermione saw a tear in the hat open and it then began to sing:

_Many things have changed since I was a new hat,_

_ But I am still as wise as I once was, you can trust in that._

_ I may be old and frayed,_

_ And look ugly on your head,_

_ But listen when I tell you,_

_ That the Founders wanted a united school,_

_ Not divided by House or blood._

_ Dear Ravenclaw sought to bring the brightest here,_

_ No matter their past or flaws._

_ Sweet Hufflepuff called for the hard working_

_ Because there were many things to learn._

_ Brave Gryffindor brought in the bravest,_

_ To protect to school from harm._

_ Sly Slytherin desired those with cunning minds,_

_ Determined to persevere and succeed._

_ With all these traits we could unite,_

_Unfortunately we fell from desire and greed._

_And now we stand divided,_

_Losing hope and fighting one another._

_But the key to success has come,_

_To unite the Houses once again._

_We will stand strong and proud,_

_Until the final day comes,_

_And we will prevail. _

The Sorting Hat closed his mouth and the Great Hall was silent, staring at it. Then, slowly, people began to applaud. The applause ended quickly and Professor McGonagall stepped forward and called the first name on her list.

Darlene Ackridge stumbled forward and sat on the stool. McGonagall placed the hat on her head and Hermione waited for something to happen. Severus had not told her exactly how the Sorting worked. About 30 seconds later the hat opened its mouth and yelled, "Ravenclaw!."

One of the tables in the middle of the Hall burst into applause. The girl jumped off the stool and ran to the table, sitting next to a second year student.

The Sorting continued and ended with "Patricia Yemming," who was sorted into Slytherin.

Hermione was left by herself, standing in the front of the Great Hall. She didn't dare look at Severus and stared straight ahead at the Professor's table in front of her. She heard Professor McGonagall call her name and she started to walk toward the stool. She could feel the student's eyes on her back and even saw some of the professors look confused. She sat down on the stool, facing the students, and closed her eyes. She felt McGonagall place the Hat on her head and waited. Then it began to talk to her so only she could hear.

"_You are a very peculiar girl_," The Hat began, "_you spent so much of your life hating Dumbledore and Harry Potter, but I see that your hate for them is truly gone. You're cunning, smart, and very talented at getting your way. You would do well in Slytherin."_

Hermione mentally shook her head. "_Not Slytherin,"_ she thought to the Hat, "_You know what I came here to do and I can't succeed if I am in Slytherin. I must have some qualities that could put me in another House_."

"_You are quite right_," the Hat replied, "_You are also brave and you have sacrificed your life and quite possibly your future to help save the Wizarding World. You are part of the key I referred to in my song_."

Hermione gasped. She asked, "_Do you know how to defeat him? What is the other part of the key?"_

"_I believe you already know_," the Hat said, "_You just need to be around the right people to figure it out. So I better put you in _GRYFFINDOR!"

The last word was heard by all, and the Gryffindor table erupted with cheers and applause. Hermione wished she could slam the Hat back on her head and make it talk to her, but she thought that may look a little strange. Instead, she stood up, and walked toward the Gryffindor table, taking the seat next to Harry that he had saved for her. Harry smiled and patted her on the back. Ron sat across from her and beamed at her as well. Ginny, who was sitting on the other side of Harry, had turned away to chat with the person next to her.

Hermione glanced quickly towards the Slytherin table where many of the students were whispering, shooting her an occasional glance. She knew they were all discussing how she could have tricked the Hat into placing her in Gryffindor. They would be awfully surprised if they ever found out she didn't have to trick it.

Her eye's caught Draco's and she saw that he looked extremely displeased. He had always hoped she would be sorted into Slytherin—or at least Ravenclaw. She tore her eyes away from him and listened to what Harry was saying to Ron. Suddenly, plates and plates of food appeared on all the tables and everyone began to pull some of it onto their plates. Hermione grabbed a few things and began to eat quietly, still contemplating what the Hat had said to her.

For the next thirty minutes, all the students ate as much as their bellies would let them. Many students were laughing, telling stories to their friends about their summers and filling them in on the classes they had signed up for. Hermione tried to listen when Harry and Ron began to talk about Quidditch, but found it rather boring. Fifteen minutes after the desserts had been served, Professor Dumbledore stood up and the Hall became silent once again.

"Now that you are all happily fed," he began, "I will give some necessary announcements. A reminder that the Forbidden Forest is off limits to all students. Mr. Filch would like me to say that there is to be no dueling in the corridors or you will face detention. Also, the Seventh Years may have noticed that the Head Girl and Head Boy badges were not given when everyone received their letters over the summer."

Some of the students began to whisper, confused why Heads hadn't been chosen yet.

"Not to worry, not to worry," Dumbledore said smiling, "I will make the announcement right now. The Head Boy at Hogwarts this year will be Harry Potter!"

The students clapped loudly for Harry, the Gryffindor students clapping the loudest. Once the clapping had died down, Dumbledore continued.

"Choosing the Head Girl was quite difficult. There were many worthy students who I know would have done well in the position. I chose the student who seemed the most dedicated to her studies, kind, and a strong leader. Your Head Girl is Hermione Granger, our new student. She will be a great addition to our school."

_Tell me what you think in a review! I love reading them all. What did you think of the Sorting Hat's Song? That took me forever to write and I'm not sure it turned out well._


	8. Chapter 8: The Call

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter—JK Rowling is the brilliant one deserving all credit.

**A/N: Sorry it's been so long. First, some cable people came out to our house and cut the wrong cord so I lost my internet, cable, and phone. It's was very annoying. Then I had to pack for the beach, where I am now. But I'll still try to get a couple chapters out this week :) Read, Enjoy, and Review!**

Chapter 8: The Call

Hermione sat in absolute shock. What was Dumbledore thinking making her Head Girl? No Headmaster in their right mind would make a new student Head Girl. The Slytherins will tell Voldemort, He will get suspicious, and she will be dead. Perfect.

She glanced quickly at Severus and was glad that it appeared he agreed with her. He looked like he was going to lunge at Dumbledore and strangle him. Their eyes met and his face dropped back to his usual, stony expression. They didn't need people getting suspicious about her and Severus as well.

The whole Hall was still talking about their new Head Girl—more bad things than good were being said. Harry was very surprised that his fellow Head was Hermione, but he took it in stride and told her that he was really excited that they would get to work together. She told him the same. Harry also mentioned to Hermione how they would have their own dormitory which made Ginny turn red with anger.

Professor Dumbledore let the students gossip for another few minutes, but then cleared his throat and went on with his speech. "One last announcement before you are all sent off to bed. We have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Professor Tonks, will you please stand?"

The woman who Severus had been talking to earlier stood and the professors and students clapped for her. Harry, Ron, and Ginny seemed very excited that Tonks would be their professor. As she stood up, she knocked her glass of pumpkin juice into Severus's lap, which made his brows furrow together with anger and he cast a spell to dry himself off. Her hair was a bright turquoise color today; but if Hermione remembered correctly, her hair had been a dark shade of red when Hermione saw her at the Order meeting.

She sat back down and Dumbledore continued, "Now that all is said and done, off to bed. Chop chop!"

Hermione stood up along with the rest of the students, but had no idea where to go. She was supposed to be a leader of the students, yet she didn't even know where the bathroom was. She was going to need to find a map. She looked at Harry and was surprised to see that he was giving orders to the Prefects. The Prefects were looking at her with disdain—they already didn't like her. Hermione didn't blame them but she needed to find a way to change their opinion of her.

Once Harry finished speaking with the Prefects, he turned to Hermione and said, "We need to go to Dumbledore's office for the beginning of term meeting. He'll want to talk with us about our plans for the year and how we'll schedule the rounds." Hermione had made no plans or schedules and was angry at Dumbledore for giving her more duties she would have to focus on. Being a full-time student, a spy, and carrying on a secret relationship with ateacher just wasn't enough to do; although Dumbledore didn't know about her relationship with Severus. Harry led Hermione through the corridors and they ended up in front of a large gargoyle.

"This is the annoying part," Harry explained, "We have to guess the password; it always has something to do with candy." They began guessing different candies and, five minutes later, Harry said "Tootsie Roll" and the gargoyle opened for them. They both stepped onto the stairs and were brought up to the landing of Dumbledore's office. Harry knocked on his door and it slowly opened.

Hermione had never seen a room like this one. It was painted in reds, oranges, and yellows, and was lined with the portraits of past Headmasters. There were numerous cabinets that were so full they couldn't close and a beautiful red phoenix sat on the desk. Dumbledore was seated behind his desk and smiled as Harry and Hermione entered.

"Ah," Dumbledore began, "Please, sit down. Would either of you care for a Lemon Drop?" When they both shook their heads, he continued, "Now, I know that being Head Boy and Head Girl was quite a surprise, but I have full confidence in your abilities. Being a Head comes with special privileges, as I am sure only Harry is aware of. You will have your own dormitory to share, will have access to the Restricted Section in the library without a pass, and will be able to roam the halls whenever you desire to do so."

Harry and Hermione nodded. She assumed this was why Dumbledore gave her the position—so she could go as she pleased without being questioned. Good idea—except for the part where Voldemort was going to kill her.

The three of them discussed some of their ideas for year and made up an outline for when they would meet and what exact duties they would need to accomplish beforehand. Hermione found it all relatively simple and thought that her and Harry could get everything done on time. They would need to devise a schedule for rounds by Friday; that was when the first Prefect meeting would be held. It seemed that they had reached the end of their meeting when Severus walked in looking especially grim. Dumbledore looked up and said, "Perfect timing, as always, Severus, we were just finishing up. Your dorm is located near the dungeons and Severus will take you there now.

"Near the dungeons?" Harry said unhappily, "there is nothing closer to the Gryffindor common room?"

"Of course Mr. Potter would be upset with his new living arrangements," Severus sneered, "It's not enough that he is Head Boy—he has to have to perfect location for his dorms as well."

Hermione looked between the two of them and saw so much hate in their eyes. Severus had told her of his hate for Harry's father, but that can't be the reason for Severus staring at Harry as if he destroyed every book in his library. She would have to discuss it with him later.

"Ms. Granger," Dumbledore said, "I would like for you to stay here awhile longer so that we can discuss your class schedule and different things you may need to know. Severus, if you could escort Harry to his rooms and then return to bring Ms. Granger?"

Severus nodded stiffly and he and Harry left to go to the dungeons. When the door closed behind them, Hermione turned to Dumbledore angrily.

"How the hell do you expect me to explain to Voldemort why you choose me as Head Girl?" Hermione spat. "You aren't supposed to know me and choosing me as head Girl is going to make Him think that you do!"

"Ms. Granger," Dumbledore said calmly, "I knew that it would be dangerous for you if I made you Head Girl, but I decided the risk was worth taking. You need to get close to Harry and the best way to do that is to live with him. Do you understand?"

"I understand your reasoning but it will do us no good if I'm dead. It's only a matter of days until Voldemort finds out and becomes very angry. He may say he loves me but that doesn't mean He won't kill me."

At this point, the door flew open and Severus swooped in, his robes billowing.

"HOW COULD YOU, DUMBLEDORE!" Severus roared, "HE WILL KILL HER, DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT? OUR PLAN WILL NOT WORK IF SHE IS DEAD."

"Severus, sit down. Have a Lemon Drop." Dumbledore said as he conjured a chair. "Ms. Granger and I were just talking about this matter. I have no doubt that she will be able to tell Voldemort something to appease him. You two can discuss it tomorrow after classes are over and determine what is best to say to him."

"Have you ever known Voldemort to be understanding?" Severus asked angrily, "From my personal experience, he is not"

"Severus, I am fully aware of what Voldemort is capable of," Dumbledore replied, "this was my decision though and you and Ms. Granger will just have to accept it and figure out what should be done. Now, if you could show Ms. Granger to her rooms?"

Hermione stood up, looked at Severus, and motioned for him to get up as well. It was best that they leave since they were accomplishing nothing here. Once they were outside of Dumbledore's office, Snape said, "**Disillusio**n yourself and be quiet. Follow me." Hermione did as she was told and followed Severus down the stairs and back into the corridors. It seemed as if they were making their way to the dungeons, but Hermione doubted he would be taking her to her rooms. They continued walking until they reached another gargoyle; this one was a dragon. Severus whispered the password and the dragon opened its mouth wide and Severus stepped in, followed by Hermione. Once the dragon had sealed the entrance, Hermione reappeared. Severus was at her side instantly, pulling her into his arms and burying his head in her hair.

"I will not let him hurt you," Severus said determined.

Hermione pulled back and looked at him carefully. "Severus, there is nothing you can do. I'll go to Voldemort, try to convince him that I did not know Dumbledore before today. If it works, I'll return to you. If it doesn't, I'll be dead. We have to accept that. No matter what, you cannot give yourself away as a spy. The Order needs you."

Severus looked pained, but nodded. "He'll be angry, but I don't think he will kill you. We will think of something."

Severus slowly dropped his lips down to Hermione's and began to kiss her gently. He had never been a man to say "I love you" all the time, but his kisses told Hermione everything she needed to know. Hermione pressed her lips against his and he slid his tongue into her mouth as he picked her up and walked towards the couch. He laid her underneath him and continued to kiss her. Hermione's legs were still wrapped around him and she could already feel his erection pressing against her.

He vanished their robes, moved his hands to her shirt, and pulled it off of her. Her breasts were contained in a sexy green laced bra and he quickly unclasped it, letting her breasts spill out. His long fingers took her right breast in his hand and kneaded it, made her groan in pleasure. Next, he pinched her nipple feeling it harden under his touch. He moved to her other nipple and rolled it between his fingers as it grew erect.

Hermione began to undo Severus's belt buckle as he pulled off his shirt and threw it onto the floor. She was able to push his pants to his knees and then he stood up and pushed them down the rest of the way. Once Severus stepped up of his pants, he stripped off his boxers, and stood in front of Hermione, naked.

Many scars ran over his body, but Hermione didn't care. Hermione had plenty herself from dueling practice and torture sessions by Voldemort. She pulled Severus back onto the couch and straddled his lap, pressing her wet core onto his cock. Severus growled and went to pull off her knickers, but Hermione grabbed his hands and pushed them to his sides.

"Not yet," Hermione whispered and lightly bit his ear. She ran her hands down his chest and lightly brushed his penis, but she quickly pulled away. Severus groaned in frustration and once again tried to pull off the last piece of clothing on either of them. Hermione smiled sexily and slid down his body, her knees hitting the floor.

Severus smiled as she leaned forward brought her mouth closer to his throbbing cock. She opened her mouth and slowly slid him inside, her teeth lightly grazing him. He bucked into her mouth and Hermione took as much of his large member as she could into her mouth. Severus's hand went into her hair as she began to suck him. Her hand went to play with his balls and Severus moaned in pleasure. He was deep in her mouth when he burst, screaming her name. She pulled back, swallowed, and smiled at him.

"Feel less stressed?" Hermione whispered as she climbed back onto the couch.

"Much," Severus replied, "Now it's your turn."

Hermione laughed as he flipped on onto the couch once again but pulled back when he heard her sharp intake of breath.

"What's wrong? Did I hurt you?" Severus said quickly looking her over for injuries.

"No, He's already calling me," Hermione said, panicked. "Go get your Death Eater robes. I'll just shrink yours down because I don't have time to go get mine and avoid Harry. When I get back I'll just tell him the meeting with Dumbledore went on longer than expected."

Severus ran upstairs to get his robes. He didn't expect Voldemort to call for her so soon. He retrieved his robes and ran back downstairs. He threw his robes at her and she quickly put them on and then shrunk them down to her size.

"How should I get out of the castle?" Hermione asked, all business now.

"Disillusion yourself and go out the front doors. When you reach the forest you will be able to Apparate. I'll tell Dumbledore where you went."

Hermione looked at him and said, "I will come back," and then she disappeared through the dragon entrance. Severus went to his fireplace to tell Dumbledore what was happening; he was too worried about Hermione to even yell at him. He then slumped onto his couch and waited for Hermione to return.

_Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please leave a review...I love reading them all :)_


	9. Chapter 9: The Night

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter—JK Rowling is the brilliant one deserving all credit.

**A/N: Finally, another chapter! The beach was tons of fun, but I didn't have much time for writing. I'm hoping I can update at least twice a week now. *crosses fingers.* This chapter has a bit of violence in it so don't say I didn't warn you ;) Read, Enjoy, and Review!**

Chapter 9: The Night

It was 8 o' clock when Hermione Apparated to Voldemort's castle. She appeared right outside the wards and walked towards the gate. When she approached the gate, she pressed her wand against the wall and the gates opened. Severus had developed the security at the gate—the wall could read the magical signature in every wand and all Death Eaters would be recognized while strangers would be stunned and an alarm would go off.

Hermione walked confidently towards the castle, seeing no one as she walked down the stone pathway. There wasn't a meeting tonight and she thought that most Death Eaters would either be in their rooms or elsewhere. The doors to the castle opened for her and she swept in quickly, still seeing no one around. She wound through the corridors, becoming more nervous as she went. Voldemort was going to be angry but she didn't know how angry. If He didn't let her explain she wouldn't be returning to Severus as she had promised.

She reached the main room, took a deep breath, and pushed open the black doors. She walked in and stopped in her tracks, shocked at what she saw.

All the Death Eaters in the Inner Circle were gathered before Voldemort, waiting for her to arrive. She glanced past them to look at Voldemort and saw that His eyes were blood red, full of anger, and His wand was firmly gripped in His hand. The only thing running through Hermione's mind at the moment was "shit."

"Come here, Hermione," Voldemort hissed and Hermione slowly began to walk towards him, dropping to her knees when she became close. She began to crawl to his feet when she was flung onto her back. She writhed in absolute pain as Voldemort inflicted the Cruciatus Curse on her. At first she could hear the Death Eaters laughing, but after 10 minutes of the curse, all she could hear were her screams of agony. She could feel the blood running from her nose and was finding it harder to breathe every second. Suddenly, Voldemort ended the curse, and Hermione lay on the floor, whimpering and shaking.

The Death Eaters began to throw their own curses at her; Avery shot Hermione with a Slicing Hex to her stomach, Nott used a spell that broke her left foot and knee, and even Lucius hit her with numerous Stinging Hexes to her neck and arms. She was bleeding profusely from her stomach and had to try extremely hard not to lose consciousness. If she did, they would keep torturing her until she died. Hermione swallowed the blood in her throat and tried to speak. She chose her words carefully, wanting to sound innocent but not complaining.

"Master," Hermione began weakly, "I know that I could never be as great as you hoped me to be and could never repay you for saving me from Dumbledore, but what have I done to deserve this, My Lord?"

"You must know that I was awfully surprised that Albus Dumbleodre made you Head Girl," Voldemort said as he flicked his wand and Hermione found herself kneeling in front of him. "So now Hermione, we shall see how this has occurred and if you are actually loyal to me." With that said, Voldemort dove into her mind.

The day Voldemort returned to his body and Severus had informed her of the actual way her parents died, Hermione had begun to learn Occlumency. Severus taught her how to block her mind from attacks by anyone. Being a spy meant that her mind was her greatest weapon and if Voldemort could see right into it, Hermione and Severus would both be dead within minutes. They worked tirelessly for three weeks and by the end, Hermione was almost as talented at blocking her mind as Severus was. She also knew how to protect her real memories with fake ones, stringed together so that they appeared real.

When Voldemort delved into her mind, He saw only what Hermione wanted Him to see. He saw _Hermione climbing onto the train and seeing Harry Potter. "That Potter bastard must pay for what he has done to my Master," Hermione thought…_

_ Hermione walked into Hogwarts and looked around in disgust. She saw Albus Dumbledore walking to her, his eyes twinkling. It took all she could not to rip his twinkling eyes out of his head; instead she forced a smile and began a conversation about all the wonderful things she has heard about him…_

_ Sitting with the Sorting Hat on her head, Hermione thought "Gryffindor, Gryffindor," and was ecstatic when the Hat obliged her. "Now I can be even closer to the Potter brat. My Master will be so pleased."…_

_ Dumbledore called Hermione's name to be Head Girl. She was shocked but was pleased she had tricked Dumbledore so easily. He could never compare to her Master…_

Voldemort pulled out of Hermione's mind, leaving her gasping for breath at his feet.

"You have done well tonight, pet," Voldemort hissed, "I will expect the same quality of work from now on. No Death Eater shall question your loyalty. Go back to Hogwarts and please me." Hermione crawled to him to kiss his feet; the movement almost making her pass out. Seeing the state she was in Voldemort ordered Lucius to ensure that she made it to the Apparition area. Lucius grabbed under her arms and heaved her to her feet. They slowly made their way out of the castle, Lucius pushing her every time she move fast enough.

They had just reached the Apparition point when Lucius grabbed Hermione by the hair and swung her around to face him.

"Listen here, Hermione," Lucius said firmly, "You will not disgrace my family, do you hear? The Dark Lord gave me the unpleasant job of raising you and I did not keep you alive so that you could fail our Lord. If you fail, his wrath will not be the only one you must face."

With that, Lucius spun away and made his way back to the castle, leaving Hermione bleeding and shaking alone. She gripped her wand tightly and concentrated on the Forbidden Forest. She felt herself being pulled off the ground and seconds later she was lying in a heap on the ground. She crawled over to a tree, and ensured that no one would be able to see her from the castle. Trying to keep her eyes opened, she ran a diagnostic spell over her body to assess the damage. The only things she deemed to be life threatening were her punctured right lung and the major internal bleeding, and external bleeding, from the Slicing Hex—she would make Avery pay for that. Quickly, Hermione whispered a few spells to patch up her lung and stop the bleeding. The spells were not strong enough to completely stop the bleeding, but Hermione was not able to do anything else before she fainted.

It was 11 o' clock when Severus heard a soft knocking on the door. If he hadn't been in his living room, he would not have heard the knock. He half sprinted to the door, hoping it was Hermione alive and safe, but found quite the opposite.

The second he opened the door, Hermione fell in, Severus catching her around the stomach. He could feel blood seeping onto his arms and carefully scooped her up, carrying her to the couch. He placed her carefully on the couch and, seeing that her eyes were barely open, became extremely worried.

"Hermione!" Severus said loudly, "Don't you dare fall asleep! Don't you dare!" Hermione mumbled something incomprehensible and Severus swore. He ran his wand over her, and different colors emitted from her body. It was a rather clever spell—the color red meant those wounds were the most dangerous and blues meant that the wounds were almost harmless. Most of Hermione's injuries showed red and orange. Severus swore again.

He quickly ran upstairs to his personal lab and grabbed 4 different bottles of potions. When he returned to the couch, she was moaning in pain. He coaxed Hermione to open her mouth and she swallowed them all, coughing as they went down her throat. Severus then pulled up her shirt to see her bruised and bleeding stomach. He was not worried about her blood loss since he had given her a blood replenishing potion and he had also given her a potion to stop her internal bleeding. He began to slide his wand across the slashes in her stomach, swearing to himself that he would kill whoever did this to her. It appeared that the Skele-Gro was already taking effect as he could see her bones begin to grow back. It was amazing that she was able to reach his rooms. He used a spell of his own creation to help speed the process along.

The bruises on her face, legs, and arms were the next injuries he healed. She almost seemed to look as if this night hadn't happened—but he knew better. There was nothing more Severus could do, so he sat on the ground next to her head and wondered how she had tricked Voldemort.

About 45 minutes later, Hermione groaned and tried to sit up but stopped when Severus gently pushed her back down.

"How do you feel, my love," Severus questioned concernedly.

"Was it that bad?" Hermione said, knowing that Severus only used pet names when she was incredibly angry at him or tortured to the brink of death.

"Yes," he answered shortly. Hermione assumed he didn't want to talk about it. "Whatever healing spells you performed before you arrived slowed down the bleeding enough so that I had time to fix you."

"I'm glad. I was worried that I wouldn't make it in time—I hadn't planned on fainting."

Severus snapped his head up to look at her. If she hadn't regained consciousness, she'd be dead right now.

"We will need to find a way for you to reach me if you are having difficulties," Severus responded, worried that this may happen a lot over the next few months. Hermione nodded.

"Do you think I can make it to my rooms?" Hermione asked, "Harry is probably getting concerned as to why I haven't showed up yet."

Severus looked her over and replied, "You can make it, but I'd rather you not go."

"We know I have to," Hermione said tiredly, "I better go now before I fall asleep."

Severus helped her up and they made their way to the entrance, Severus explaining how to get there. He pulled her into his arms and whispered, "You are not allowed to scare me like that ever again."

Hermione chuckled and said, "Whatever you say, Professor."

Severus smirked and kissed her lightly before she left his warm embrace and began to walk to her rooms, limping to favor her somewhat boneless leg.

It was 12 o' clock when Hermione walked through the entrance of her rooms. It was a good thing Severus had remembered to give her the password just after she left because Hermione didn't think she could have made it back to his rooms to ask. As she expected, Harry was waiting for her on the couch, but had fallen asleep. Hermione limped over to the couch and sat down next to Harry, lightly shaking him.

"Hey, wake up," Hermione said as Harry slowly began to open his eyes. When he saw her sitting in front of him he jumped and sat up straight.

"Finally!" Harry exclaimed, "I didn't know what had happened to you! I think I was planning on going to Dumbledore's office but instead I fell asleep."

_Thank Merlin for that, _Hermione thought but said, "Oh, there was nothing to worry about. I was having a hard time picking my courses. They are all just so interesting but I obviously can't sign up for them all. Professor Snape never came back to show me where the room was so I just wandered around for awhile until I found the gargoyle Dumbledore had described."

"Snape's an idiot," Harry replied sleepily, "Now, that I know you're not dead, I think we should go to sleep. Let me show you your room."

Now that Hermione had time to look around their living room, she was highly impressed. There was the very comfortable sofa they were sitting on, three red chairs, a coffee table, and a large fireplace. Harry led her up a set of stairs and said, "Both the rooms are exactly the same so I just took the one on the right. This one is your room."

Hermione opened the door and even though she was completely exhausted and in pain, she was still very excited that this was her room. Two of the walls were lined with bookshelves already containing some books, there was a beautiful wooden desk in the corner, another fireplace, and a Queen sized bed with about 10 huge, fluffy pillows.

"The bathroom is through that door," Harry pointed to a door in the corner of the room, "and your trunk is by your bed. You better get some sleep; we have to be up in less than 7 hours. Good night." Harry walked out of her room and disappeared into his own.

After closing the door, Hermione pointed her wand at her trunk. The trunk popped open and clothes began flying out and into the drawers of her dresser, some even hanging themselves on coat racks and flying into the closet. She walked over to her dresser to put on her pajamas, and then walked to her trunk. She retrieved her own set of potions, found a pain relieving one, and drank it. She then climbed into her bed and fell asleep, not even bothering to get under the covers. After all, it had been a long night.

_Hope you liked it! I truly love hearing what you all have to say, so please review!_


	10. Chapter 10: The First Day

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter—JK Rowling is the brilliant one deserving all credit.

**A/N: So I finally figured out how to see who was adding me to their favorites and alerts. I was really happy that there are many of you who like this story. Unfortunately, the story hasn't been getting a lot of reviews in the last couple chapters. As a writer, reviews are what I live for so I'll make you a deal: If I get 5 reviews for each chapter, I'll update every 4 days. If not, I'll update once a week. So send me a review -even one word- telling me you love it, hate it, or thought it can use some improvement. I would love to read whatever you say :) Enough of me rambling...Read and Enjoy!**

Chapter 10: The First Day

Walking to the Great Hall with Harry was taxing on Hermione's body—she was still outrageously sore from the torture session and she had to focus extremely hard on what Harry was saying at the moment.

"…get our schedules at breakfast this morning. What classes did you end up signing up for?"

Hermione tried to remember what she had signed up for and spent the rest of the trip to breakfast talking excitedly about how all of her classes sounded so interesting. During the middle of the conversation, Ron appeared by her side and accidentally grazed against her side, making Hermione grimace in pain. The gashes in her side still stung when touched.

They reached the Hall and sat towards the end of their table, where Ginny was already seated, laughing with a girl in her year. When they sat down, Ginny yanked Harry into a deep kiss, causing him to blush a deep scarlet. Harry pulled back quickly mumbling something incoherent and Ginny turned to Hermione and glared at her.

Hermione pretended she didn't notice Ginny's so-called "death glare." She was way too busy to deal with Ginny's jealousy—she would have to do something about that. Putting some toast and hash browns onto her plate, Hermione began to talk to Ron, but it was hard for him to hold the conversation since he was shoveling too much food into his mouth. Hermione gave up on talking and ate her food, waiting for the schedules to be passed out.

Once breakfast was half over, the Heads of Houses descended from their table and passed out the schedules to the students. Hermione had no free blocks in her schedule like Harry or Ron had, but she was confident that she could handle it. With a bright smile, she saw that they would have Potions this afternoon. She pointed this out to Harry and Ron, who groaned in response.

"I need to go get my books," Hermione said, standing up, "Arithmancy starts in twenty minutes and I don't even know where it is."

Harry and Ron stood with her saying that they would walk with her to get her books and show her where the class was. Neither of them had signed up for Arithmancy and had a free block. Harry said a quick goodbye to Ginny, making her red with anger, and then they began to walk towards their room to get Hermione's books. Ron was very impressed with the Head's rooms and said that he would be spending a lot of time with them there. As they were leaving their rooms and making their way into the corridor, someone bumped into Hermione, the books in her arms falling to the ground.

"Look what we have here," Draco Malfoy sneered, "Our new Head Girl. Rather clumsy, aren't you?" Hermione, picking up her books, looked up at him and could barely contain her grin—he was really trying to be dramatic. _Two can play that game,_ she thought.

"Leave her alone, Malfoy," Harry yelled.

"A little protective, are you, Potter?" Draco drawled, "Got yourself a new bitch? Hope she's better than that blood traitor you are dating. God, I hope she isn't a Mudblood."

Hermione laughed at that. She was in fact a "Mudblood" but that was one fact Draco was never told."

"You seem a little jealous," Hermione said innocently, "Were you rather hoping to be his next bitch?"

Draco growled at her and went for his wand but Hermione was too quick for him—she always was when they fought. Her wand was up against his chest and a huge smile lit up her face.

"My suggestion would be that you leave now," Hermione said lightly, "before I give you detention." Draco slowly backed away and walked down the corridor, leaving Hermione with a very happy Ron and Harry.

"That was bloody amazing, Hermione," Ron stated as they turned in the direction of her class. They spent the rest of the walk to Arithmancy telling Hermione about some of the horrible things Draco had done over the years.

Only when Harry and Ron had left and Hermione was seated in class, did she opened her Potions book. She saw a letter from Draco, just as she suspected.

_Hey love,_

_ How are you doing? I was worried when I heard about last night. Father told me—he was quite angry, though I'm not sure why. Room of Requirement tonight? I want to talk._

_ ~D_

_p.s. We are going to have a lot of fun with these mock fights. I'll get you next time!_

Hermione smiled and vanished the note—wouldn't want anyone else reading it. She pulled out her Arithmancy book and began to read. She thought the subject was very interesting and was disappointed Severus hadn't taught her more about this topic. Hermione was in the middle of the second chapter when someone sat down next to her.

"Hello," the girl said loudly, with a fake smile on her face. "My name is Lisa Turpin and I was supposed to be Head Girl this year."

_Great, another jealous girl to deal with, _Hermione thought. She'd play nice for now.

"I'm sorry Professor Dumbledore made me Head Girl. I certainly didn't ask for it."

"Well, there is nothing we can do about that now," Lisa said in a fake sweet tone, "but I can assure you that I am the smartest girl in my year. That won't change."

With that, Lisa stood up and walked to a table surrounded by a bunch of giggling girls. Lisa began to whisper and all the girls turned to Hermione and laughed. Hermione turned back to her book and kept reading. She honestly didn't care what others thought of her—she had better things to do.

During the class, Hermione discovered that she was truly talented in Arithmancy. Professor Vector was highly impressed with how thoroughly Hermione could answer her questions and Hermione also noticed that Lisa Turpin was pissed that she wasn't the brightest anymore.

Class ended and, since she wasn't hungry, Hermione made her way to the library to work on the homework assignment that was just given. She found the perfect table in the corner of the library and began to work. She already had a foot of parchment written by the time lunch was over.

Hermione found a very worried Harry and Ron on her way to Potions; they were very upset that she hadn't told them she was going to the library for lunch. She had only known them for two days and they were already looking out for her—Gryffindors. Hermione told them that she would always go to the library during lunch, but would attend dinner so that they could spend some time together.

Stepping into the Potion's classroom, Hermione was not surprised by what she saw. It was dark and dreary which was the way Severus wanted other people to see him as. If the students could see where Severus lived in Voldemort's castle, they would surely be surprised by the rich colors and soft couches.

Hermione dragged Harry and Ron to the front of the room and took her seat, but didn't open her book to read this time. She had read this book at least 50 times in her life. She didn't care what Lisa Turpin said, said would be the class best in this class at least, if not the rest.

Severus glided into the room as his eyes swept over the students. Her glared at Hermione just like he did the rest. Hermione starred innocently back at him.

"It seems we have a new student," Severus said in his velvety voice, "hopefully you can prove to her that you are not a bunch of dunderheads." Severus glared at Harry and Ron as he spoke the last part.

"Turn to page 6 and begin brewing. All the ingredients you need are in the cabinets." Severus turned, sat at his desk, and began writing.

Hermione flipped to page 6 and found that they would be brewing the Draught of Living Death. Hermione smirked and thought back to the first time she had made this potion—she had been fourteen. After collecting the necessary ingredients, Hermione began to grind up the root of asphodel into a light powder. Occasionally she would mutter to Harry or Ron that they had forgotten a step and they would smile gratefully at her. She finished first with forty minutes left of class, bottled her potion, and turned to began the homework that was written on the board.

Severus stood up, and slowly made his way around the room, critiquing everyone's work and even vanishing Neville's altogether stating that "it would explode within five minutes." He told Harry that he had failed to add enough wormwood and told Ron that his was that ugly green color because some of the cut up spleen had fallen in before it should have been added. He turned to Hermione and observed her cauldron for several minutes. The entire class had stopped to watch, wanting to see what their new Head Girl had done wrong.

"Five points will be taken away Miss. Granger," Severus whispered, "for not following the directions." Hermione looked at him, shocked.

"But Sir," Hermione replied, "I can assure you the Potion is correct. I just did it a more efficient way than the textbook."

"Five more points," Severus said louder, "for arguing with a Professor."

Hermione glared up at him and went to retort, but Harry kicked her under the table and shook his head. Hermione closed her mouth, turned back to her desk, and began writing her essay furiously. She didn't look up again until the class was over. As she exited the class with Harry and Ron, a few Hufflepuffs who had been in the class said they were sorry that Professor Snape had treated her so horribly on her first day. Hermione smiled and thanked them for the concern. Maybe some of the students would begin to like her; that would make her job as Head Girl a whole lot easier.

Harry and Ron were still talking angrily about what Snape had done to her when they sat down to dinner. Hermione assured them that she was fine and the conversation ended when food appeared at their table. After their first and second helpings, Harry and Ron began a discussion on Quidditch and Hermione pulled out her Arithmancy book. She had read a chapter before she felt a pair of eyes watching her. She looked up and saw Severus staring at her, blinking occasionally. She slightly inclined her head and went back to reading.

"Let's go back to our rooms, Hermione," Harry said, "we can work on some homework and play a few games of Exploding Snap."

"How about I join you in an hour," Hermione said as she stood up and put her bag on her shoulder, "I need to do some research in the library and then I'll join you."

Harry and Ron were amazed that she would want to go to the library on the first day of school, but waved goodbye as Hermione headed towards the library. Once she was out of sight, she turned towards the dungeons and began to walk towards Severus's rooms. She made sure no one was around and Disillusioned herself, making the rest of the trip invisibly. When she reached the entrance, she whispered the password and entered quickly as she became visible.

Severus was still at dinner so Hermione went into the kitchen to make tea and then waited on the couch. She pulled out some parchment and ink to finish writing her Arithmancy essay. As she was finishing, Severus swept into the room.

"So how was your first day?" Severus asked as he sat next to her, kissing her briefly.

"Oh, it was horrible," Hermione said dramatically, "I have the meanest Potions Professor ever and he took 10 points from me—Head Girl! How dare he?"

Severus chuckled as he pulled her into his lap and began kissing her neck.

"That was quite an enjoyable class for me," Severus said in between kisses, "I think I'll be punishing you a lot. I see a detention or two in your future."

"Oh yeah," Hermione replied sweetly, "Give me a detention and I'll make you pay. You know how quick I am with a wand." Severus chuckled again, tilted his head towards her, and kissed her softly.

After a few minutes Hermione pulled and looked at the clock.

"I forgot I was going to meet Draco tonight," Hermione said, "I've been thinking, Severus, and I think that I can convince Draco to switch sides. Come work for the Order as a spy."

Severus stiffened, his eyes darkening.

"We talked about this Hermione," Severus replied tensely, "Draco is loyal to the Dark Lord and his father. If you told him your status as a spy, he would betray you and Voldemort would kill you."

"I'm not so sure," Hermione replied, sliding off his lap, "Draco loves me. He sees me as his little sister. He was upset when he heard about my torture last night. If I can hint to him about how Lucius is unhappy about my status and wants me gone with, he may go against Lucius to help me. The war is coming Severus and I do not want Draco on the wrong side."

Severus sighed and looked into Hermione's beautiful brown eyes. She looked so confident that she could save him, but Severus didn't think it was possible.

"Try to see if you can get his opinion of his father, but not of Voldemort yet. We'll see what happens, but you need to take it slow, Hermione."

Hermione beamed at him and kissed him happily. When she pulled away, she stood up and grabbed her bag.

"I'll go meet Draco now then," Hermione began, "I have to get back to Harry and Ron soon. It hasn't been hard at all for them to become my friends."

Severus nodded and she left, Disillusioning herself as she went.

He stood and made his way over to his desk. He may not have papers to grade yet but he had plenty of research to continue. He sighed as he thought about Draco's position among the Death Eaters. He thought Hermione getting involved was a horrible idea—too bad he could never say no to her.


	11. Chapter 11: The Week

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter—JK Rowling is the brilliant one deserving all credit.

**A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews! I loved reading them. Keep it up and there will be another chapter on Monday :) So far, this is the longest chapter! Read, Enjoy, and REVIEW.**

Chapter 11: The Week

Hermione stepped into The Room of Requirement and saw Draco pacing in front of the coffee table. Apparently Draco wanted Hermione to feel as comfortable as possible because there were three different couches, blankets piled on each couch, biscuits and pumpkin juice on the coffee table, and soothing music was playing from somewhere.

When Draco saw Hermione, he rushed over to her and began to look her over.

"How bad are your injuries?" Draco said worriedly, as he removed the glamour charms on her face and arms. His grey eyes turned black when he saw the bruises on her face and the red marks from the Stinging Hexes. Since Hermione wanted him to know the full outcome of her torture, she pulled up her shirt to show Draco the slashes and he hissed in anger.

"Did my father do any of this to you?" Draco asked.

"All the Stinging Hexes came from him," Hermione answered, "Nott had the great pleasure of breaking my leg and I will get revenge on Avery for the Slashing Hexes. Severus said they almost killed me."

Draco took a sharp breath and gently pulled her into his arms. Hermione hugged him back tightly.

"I can't believe they did this to you," Draco said roughly, "They are crazy if they think you could ever be a spy."

Hermione pulled back, took his hand, and they walked over to the couch and sat down.

"The Dark Lord had to be sure," Hermione said reasonably, "But between you and me, the torture session wasn't necessary. It was just fun and games to the Death Eaters."

"It's absolutely disgusting," Draco said, "And to think that my father was a part of it. You're practically his daughter! I'll talk to him."

"Oh, no you won't," Hermione said quickly, "We both know Lucius has never seen me as a daughter and has always hated the fact that the Dark Lord has given me more missions. He's always been jealous of my standing but I've always been jealous that you get to go to school. You have the rest of your life to serve our Master. If you try to talk to him about me, he'll just get angry"

Draco nodding, thinking about Hermione just said.

"I just hate that my father treats you like dirt," Draco said sadly, "The part I hate the most is that there is nothing I can do."

Hermione smiled softly at him. This was why she needed Draco to join the right side. When blood status wasn't concerned, he was a wonderful person. She didn't want something he had been taught all his life to destroy his future.

"It'll be fine, Draco," Hermione promised, "I'll make it fine."

"If anyone can, it's you," said Draco, "Anyways, how are things going with Potter? Think you'll be able to trick him by the end of the year? How are you going to do that anyway?"

"So many questions, Draco," Hermione laughed, "Let's see—Things are going well with Potter, I am confident I will be able to trick him by the end of the year, and Severus and I are working on that last part."

"Sounds good," Draco said, impressed, "The Dark Lord will be pleased. Are you required to attend all the Death Eater meetings still? It must have been hard sneaking in and out of the castle last night."

"I'm the master of being invisible," Hermione said lightly, "I am only to visit the castle if Voldemort has specifically called me or I have crucial news. Severus still has to attend the monthly meetings though. I think the Dark Lord wants to hear of my progress from him as well."

"Well, that sucks," Draco said, "But I guess it's understandable. Don't want Potter to wonder where you are all the time. Speaking of Potter, I think we should plan out some more fights—and I want to win one!"

Hermione laughed and told Draco that they would have to do that some other time because she had to get back to Potter and Weasley. Draco scowled at that but let her go after giving her another gentle hug and kiss on the check. She made her way back to her quarters to work with Harry and Ron; although she doubted much work would be done.

The rest of the week went by rather quickly for Hermione. She excelled in all her classes, to the anger of Lisa Turpin, and found the work relatively easy. Even though she wasn't being challenged, she enjoyed her time as a student.

On Friday, Hermione, Harry, and Ron found themselves in the front row of the Potions room again, preparing themselves for another dreadful class. Snape swept in, demanded that they pass forward their homework, and to turn to chapter 3 and begin reading. He went to sit behind his desk and began to grade their essays, covering them in red ink.

Hermione flipped open the book, but didn't pay attention as she flipped through the pages pretending to read. Instead of Potions, she was contemplating the best way she could get her revenge on Avery without Voldemort suspecting her. It was a risk, but she knew she couldn't let him get away with the Slashing Hexes without a punishment. If he thought he could get away with torturing her, he would try to do it Hemuch more often which was unacceptable. Hermione made a mental note to ask Severus if he had any ideas.

This class was particularly easy since Severus only made them read Chapters 3 through 5 and make a list of all the ingredients that would be necessary to brew the Wolfsbane Potion. Severus passed back their homework assignment, and Hermione opened hers, finding a message next to her "Outstanding" grade.

_There will be an Order meeting tonight and the Order requires Jane's attendance. The only bright side to this otherwise annoying night full of idiots is that Harry will be staying at Grimmauld Place meaning you can stay in my rooms tonight. Meet me by the Whomping Willow at 9 o' clock. You can turn yourself into Jane when we enter the Forbidden Forest._

As soon as Hermione finished reading the note, it disappeared. Hermione turned to Harry and Ron, beaming, and told them excitedly that she received an Outstanding. They weren't as pleased with their grades as she was and made Hermione promise to read over their next essays.

Sneaking away from Harry and Ron wasn't difficult because they were also trying to think of an excuse to tell Hermione so that they could sneak off to the Order meeting themselves. At eight thirty, Hermione yawned and said that she was going to go to bed since she needed to get up early to go to the library. Harry and Ron were so relieved that they wouldn't have to think of an excuse to tell her that they didn't even tell her she was crazy for wanting to go to the library on a Saturday morning. Just as she suspected, when Hermione came back out of her room ten minutes later, the two boys were gone.

After Disillusioning herself, Hermione walked to the main entrance and exited with ease. Severus didn't tell her the exact location of the Whomping Willow but she found it five minutes later, Severus coming towards it from the opposite direction.

"Hey," Hermione said when they got closer, "How did you get here?"

"Remind me to show you the secret passage from the dungeons to the grounds."

Hermione looked at Severus, annoyed, but the affect was lost since he couldn't see her.

"Don't you think it would have been helpful if I had known about this secret passage after my fun little torture session?" Hermione said, "I barely made it through the halls unseen."

"It would have been very helpful," Severus replied, "But we weren't expecting The Dark Lord to call on you so soon and I forgot. I'm telling you now."

Hermione huffed but understood what he was saying. It had possibly been the last time Severus would see Hermione alive so she wasn't surprised that Severus wasn't think of secret passages. Severus began to walk towards the Forbidden Forest, Hermione at his side. Once they were a few meters into the forest, Hermione reappeared and started the process of changing herself into a beautiful blonde. She transfigured her school uniform into a tight black skirt and a red shirt, once again. After she changed her eye color, Severus and Hermione Apparated to their destination.

The meeting took place in the same room it was held in last time Hermione was present. Severus and Hermione seemed to be the last to arrive, and she received glares from all around the table. Harry was the only one to smile at her and she smiled back brightly, glad The Boy Who Lived was on her side. She glanced at Ron and saw him sitting in disbelief, his mouth wide open.

"Did a Malfoy just walk into the meeting?" Ron said faintly, still not able to tear his eyes away from Hermione.

"Unfortunately," Moody grunted, "This is the spy we have been talking about."

"And you actually believe a Malfoy could change from their blood purity ideals?" Ron exclaimed, turning red.

"Mr. Weasley, mind your tongue or I will remove it from your mouth," Snape threatened, "You have only been in the Order for a week and you are already acting like you don't deserve to be here." Severus led Hermione to the chairs they occupied last time, and sat down.

Still angry, Ron turned to Harry and they began to quietly whisper. Hermione could tell that Harry was trying to calm Ron down, saying that even _he_ liked Jane. After a few more moments Ron slumped back into his seat and stared straight ahead at the wall.

"We have called this meeting," Dumbledore began, standing, "to learn more information from our wonderful spies and begin to plan for the Final Battle." Dumbledore nodded to Severus and Hermione, telling them that they could begin.

"I've been to many meetings of the Inner Circle lately," Hermione began, all eyes turning to her, "Voldemort—"

"Hold a second," Mrs. Weasley said, "You call You-Know-Who by his real name? Severus doesn't even do that."

"Yes, Severus thinks I'm a fool to do it," Hermione began to explain, "Severus says the more I say His name, the more likely I'll slip and say it in front of him. I, however, disagree. I am in perfect control of my mind during Death Eater meetings and will not slip."

"I bet your perfectly in control of your mind here as well," Moody growled, "How can we know for sure that you are loyal to the Order? Dumbledore has said we are not allowed to use Veritaserum on you. At least the Death Eaters can torture you to test your loyalty."

"If you want to torture her to the brink of death, Moody," Severus suddenly spoke, his voice sounding like a metal dagger, "you wouldn't be the first person to do that this week. Though this time her body may just give out and her death would be on your hands."

Hermione saw Dumbledore look guiltily away. Severus hadn't told him what making Hermione Head Girl had resulted in. Maybe that would make him think twice before he included Hermione in his ridiculous ideas.

"Now, Severus that hurts," Hermione said jokingly, "I don't think my body would give out. I am a lot stronger than one would think. If we are done talking about nonsense, could I get back to what I was saying?"

"Of course, my dear, please continue," Dumbledore said softly, "there will be no more interruptions."

"Voldemort seems to have his plan for the Final Battle fully developed but He is weary on telling His Death Eaters too much information. Everyone has been told different pieces of the plan, but of course none of the Death Eaters want to sit around and put together all the pieces of information.

"From what Severus and I have been told, He will wait until the school year ends, though I do not know why. Maybe he is trying to gain more power or maybe he just doesn't want future Death Eaters at Hogwarts when he attacks. My guess would be the power though. His goal is to breach the Hogwarts wards, but He hasn't told us whether he already knows how to do it."

This part of Hermione's speech was a lie. She knew that Voldemort wanted her to find a way from the inside to shut down the wards. She would discuss that privately with Dumbledore later.

"My suggestion is that you begin to recruit as many people as you believe loyal to your Outer Circle. You all, especially Harry, need to begin intense training sessions. Even if we develop the best plan, Harry still needs to kill Him."

Hermione glanced at Harry when she said this. He seemed to be thinking deeply about what she had just said. She knew it must be horrible for him to sit here while they discuss his key role in the battle.

"About recruiting," Harry spoke, "I think we should make Hermione Granger a member. She is Head Girl and even though I haven't even known her a week, I trust her. Professor Dumbledore must trust her as well since he made her Head Girl.

"Ron has told me about their new friend," Mr. Weasley said, "It seems rather strange that this girl appears from nowhere, makes friends with Harry and Ron, and becomes Head Girl. You must know her from somewhere, Albus?"

"She is a truly wonderful girl," Albus said mysteriously, "I had met her when she was thirteen and tried to transfer to Hogwarts. We had meetings every year about her transferring and this year I decided to give in. She is the brightest witch of her age and I think she would play an important role in the Order."

Hermione tried to hide her smile as he called her the brightest witch and thought how hard it would be to attend these meetings as Jane and Hermione. She needed to talk to Severus about when she could reveal herself to Harry and the rest of the Order.

"I'll talk to her about it," Harry said to Dumbledore, "See if she would want an active role in the war."

"Fantastic," Severus sneered, "As if two Gryffindors attending these meetings weren't enough. I think it is time for us to go." Snape and Hermione stood.

"I will let you know when I hear more about Voldemort's plan," Hermione said to the Order as she and Severus walked out the door.

Severus and Hermione walked onto the Hogwarts grounds, invisible to all around them. Instead, of walking towards the entrance, Severus took Hermione to the secret passage which ended up being behind a large grouping of vines growing up the castle walls. Severus spoke the password, "Salazar," and they snuck in. When they emerged in the corridor, Hermione discovered that it lead them to the corridor where Severus's rooms were located. It was perfect.

"Finally, we are done with that nonsense," Severus said when they were in his rooms, "I'll go get our dessert." He went into the kitchen and came back with a chocolate cake with chocolate chips inside and strawberries on top, Hermione's favorite.

"They are rather inquisitive," Hermione said as she cut a large slice of cake for herself, "but then again, I probably wouldn't trust me either."

"We just need to figure out what the Dark Lord is hiding from us," Severus said, "Then we can reveal who you are and get the real planning done—preferably before both Jane and Hermione need to attend the meetings."

"My thoughts exactly," Hermione replied, "We also need to extract our revenge on Avery. Sooner rather than later, too."

Severus grinned evilly at that. "I have the perfect idea for that—it'll really teach Avery a lesson."

Hermione smiled after Severus told her his plan. It really was perfect.

"You are absolutely brilliant," Hermione said happily, "How will I ever repay you?"

Severus smirked. "How about you accompany me to the bedroom? I haven't liked not having you with me every night."

"I agree," Hermione said and grabbed his hand, leading him upstairs.

The second they entered his bedroom, Severus slammed the door shut and pushed Hermione up against the door. He kissed her passionately, grinding his hips against her. Hermione brought her hand down to his erection and pushed into it, making Severus moan into their kiss. He began to suck and kiss his way down her neck, pulling her shirt over her head when he reached her breasts.

Hermione was wearing a red lace bra and seductively whispered, "Gryffindor pride," into his ear. Severus's eyes darkened with lust and when Hermione looked down, she noticed her bra had been changed to green.

Severus felt Hermione's delicate hands unzip his pants and she pulled them down along with his boxers, leaving him with only a shirt on. Severus unzipped her black skirt and saw that she wasn't wearing knickers, making him grow harder.

Not wanting to bother dealing with the bottoms on Severus's shirt, Hermione vanished it away and then slid her arms around him, bringing him into another deep kiss. Severus brought his hands to her hips and lifted her up, her legs wrapping around his waist. Instead of carrying her to the bed, he set her on his dresser. Hermione reclined onto her hands and smiled at Severus.

"Have your way with me," Hermione said and then added, "Professor."

Severus roughly pulled her back to him, her hands going in his hair and his hands moving to unclasp her bra. Once her breasts were free he began to lick and nip all over them, avoiding her nipples. Hermione groaned and fell back onto her hands, barely able to hold herself up.

After a few minutes of torturing her breasts, Severus couldn't wait any longer to be in her. His hands came down to her knees, pushed them open, and pulled her to the very edge of the dresser as he slammed into her. Hermione yelled in absolute pleasure as Severus pumped in and out of her. He began to suck on her nipple and one hand went lower to rub her clit.

He knew she was close when her screams turned into whimpers, begging him to go harder. Severus didn't need to be asked, but it turned him on even more. With one final burst of energy, he brought them together as hard as he could, making them come, seeing stars.

After a few deep breaths, Severus lifted up a limp Hermione and brought them to his bed.

"We have to find a way to do that more often," Hermione murmured sleepily as she curled up against him.

"Go to sleep, Hermione," Severus said, kissing her forehead, "When you wake up we can do whatever you want."  
Hermione smiled as she fell asleep, Severus watching her chest rise and fall. He hadn't forgotten he almost lost her earlier this week. Avery would be getting his punishment very soon.

_Next up: Hermione gets her revenge. _


	12. Chapter 12: The Revenge

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter—JK Rowling is the brilliant one deserving all credit.

**A/N: Sorry for the wait everyone. Last week was very hectic. Thanks to everyone who has added me to their favorites and alerts. It puts a smile on my face...If only I could get a few more reviews...**

**Read, Enjoy, and Review!**

Chapter 12: The Revenge

It was midnight on Wednesday when Severus Apparated to an elegant, foreboding house on top of a large hill. It's large, beautiful lawn was fenced off by high gates with strong protective wards—good thing Severus himself had set the wards. He passed through them without the owner of the house being alerted and walked straight to the front door.

The wards around the manor's front door were more difficult to break through. They were bound using the owner's blood, so only the direct family could enter as they pleased. Severus pulled out a small vile from his coat pocket. His blood had been easy to come by considering all the rigorous training that had been done over the summer. Tipping the vile onto the doorstep, Severus saw the bonds break and, with some extra wand work, the owner still slept peacefully, unaware that a fellow Death Eater had just enter his house.

Severus navigated himself through the house easily, having been a guest there many times before. Within minutes he was in front of the office. There were barely any wards protecting this room—quite an idiotic move in Severus opinion. Wards around your house were never enough.

Gliding into the room, Severus saw that it was still as organized as he had last seen it. Moving to the cabinet, he found the shelf labeled "Portkeys." He looked through the different names and found the one specific Portkey he desired—an old keychain. Severus pulled out a handkerchief from his coat and transfigured it into an exact replica. He then cast a duplicating spell on said keychain so that his replica would transport him to the same place as the real keychain. He smirked when he was finished; he couldn't wait to tell Hermione it _had_ been as easy as that.

Severus walked away from Malfoy Manor thinking about the rest of his plan. He was confident it would work. And if he ever needed to blackmail Lucius, he could always threaten to tell The Dark Lord that Lucius made the Death Eaters Portkeys to get to their many secret houses. The Dark Lord would be very interested in what was being hidden in these places.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(scene change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The second week of school flew by rather quickly in Hermione's opinion. She loved attending her classes and enjoyed researching in the library to do her homework assignments. Severus had sent her another note with her graded essay on Monday telling her how they were going to get into Avery's secret manor. She glanced at Severus with worried eyes but knew that he would be able to do it.

On Wednesday, Draco had the pleasure of "accidentally" turning Hermione's nose into a pig snout in Transfiguration. Hermione just smiled and turned his hair pink. Her snout nose was gone in 30 seconds, but the next day Draco was still walking around with pink hair.

Thursday arrived and Hermione was glad to find Severus sitting at the Professor's table during breakfast; she knew he had gone to Malfoy Manor last night and had been worried all night that he would be caught. The only reason she hadn't accompanied him was because she would have distracted him. Unfortunately, Severus took to protecting her a little too much and Severus hated Hermione entering Malfoy Manor—he was all too aware of Lucius's dislike of Hermione. When Hermione caught Severus's attention, he gave her an _I told you I could do it_ look and then went back to being the scowling Potion's Master.

She spent Thursday night in her living room with Harry and Ron. She was reading ahead in Herbology, while Harry and Ron were trying to finish their Potions assignments due tomorrow. Hermione read their essays, fixing mistakes, and Harry and Ron smiled gratefully at her.

"Miss. Granger, a word please," said Severus after their Potions lesson on Friday. Harry and Ron glanced at Hermione and told her that they would stay with her.

"Potter and Weasley get out," Severus hissed, "Miss. Granger will surely survive a 10 minute discussion on her brewing."

Hermione nodded at them, and they reluctantly left. Severus slammed the door behind them and set the appropriate locking and silencing spells. Hermione walked over to where Severus sat, and he pulled her into her lap, kissing her soundly.

"You had no problems getting the Portkey?" Hermione asked once they had separated their lips.

"None," Severus replied with a smirk, "It was as easy as I expected. Lucius would be very upset to know that I can come and go in his house as I please."

"We can tell him another day," Hermione said, "When is the Portkey set to go off?"

"Saturday at 5 o' clock," Severus said, all business now, "Avery takes dinner there every Saturday at 6 o' clock so when he gets there, he will be in for a very splendid surprise."

Hermione smiled and kissed him again. "I am going to enjoy watching Avery squirm. It's like an early birthday present."

Severus chuckled, "We can meet in the secret passage around four forty-five. Once the Portkey takes us to the Manor, I believe it will take us around thirty minutes to actually break the wards. No doubt, he will have this house very strongly warded."

Hermione nodded in agreement. She smirked when she pictured Avery's face upon seeing them. It would be priceless.

"I need to go," Hermione began, climbing out of his lap, "Lunch will be over soon and I need to get to Herbology."

Severus stood up as well, kissing her one final time.

"See you tomorrow," He whispered into her ear, sending chills down her spine. She walked to Herbology, thinking of a plausible reason she could give Harry and Ron when she left tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(scene change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luckily for Hermione, the Gryffindors had decided to throw a party in their Common Room on Saturday night, and of course Harry, Ron, and Hermione were invited. After ten minutes of Harry and Ron begging her to come, they left for the party by themselves, leaving Hermione to get ready for the night. She dressed in all black and didn't bother wearing robes—they would just get in her way.

Severus was already in the passageway when Hermione arrived. He led her out into the forest where they had been last time.

"If I am correct, the Portkey will take us to right outside the main gates," Severus explained, "Professor Vector tells me you are very talented at Arithmancy, so you might as well attempt to bring down the wards, but I'll be there if you require help."

Hermione looked at him, surprised. "You talk about me to other professors?"

"I can hardly bring up such a Gryffindor know-it-all," Severus smirked, "but all of the professors love you. They say that you are the brightest witch of your age."

Hermione's smile was huge. While she knew that she was smarter than all of the other students, it was wonderful to hear that her professors thought so as well.

"It's almost 5 o' clock," Severus said quickly, "Grab onto the Portkey."

A few seconds after she touched the key chain, Hermione felt her stomach twist and her feet were pulled off the ground. She landed on the ground with a _thump_, while Severus landed gracefully on his feet. He helped her up and pulled a few leaves out of her hair.

They ended up exactly where Severus had predicted and looked up at the house. It was a beautiful, white house, not as big as either were expecting. Hermione walked up to the gates, gathering her strength to break through the wards. She placed her hands on the gate and felt the magic running through it.

The key to breaking through the wards was to find the wards and be able to _see_ them in your mind. Hermione focused all her magic on the wards and saw hundreds of strands of light were running across her mind; she had never seen so many wards around a house.

Quickly thinking how to break them, Hermione used all of her magic and concentration to pull the wards together. Severus saw that she had begun to start sweating but would not help her until she asked for it. It took several minutes for Hermione to pull all of the wards into a bundle and then she conjured a thick robe into her mind and tightly tied it around the wards.

With the strongest Slicing Hex she could manage, she slashed through the wards, leaving a large gap in the colorful strands. Hermione stumbled once they had broken, Severus catching her before she hit the ground.

"That was interesting," Hermione mumbled as she opened her eyes, "I wish we could tell Professor Victor that I was able to do it. I did do it, right?"

"Let's test it," Severus said as he helped guide her through the gap in the wards. They made it through without a problem and Severus found a fallen branch and transfigured it into a bench.

"Sit for a couple minutes and you'll be fine," Severus said as he sat her on the bench. He then waved his wand across the gate to reattach the wards so that no one would know of their arrival.

Hermione sat, breathing deeply. Even though it had been extremely difficult, it was exhilarating and wonderful to be able to accomplish it. After a few minutes, Hermione felt fine again and they made their way to the front door. There were also strong wards on the door, but Severus had decided to break these, telling Hermione he didn't want her to wear herself out.

When they entered, they made their way into the living room. They heard someone down the hall and assumed they were in the kitchen because of the sound of pots and pans clanking together. Severus and Hermione let her go on cooking—she posed no threat to them.

Hermione settled herself on the couch while Severus chose a particularly comfortable looking armchair. They sat quietly until they heard the front door open, and both stiffened in alert.

"Aunt Beth, I'm here," shouted Avery to the woman in the kitchen. He seemed to be shuffling around in the foyer, most likely hanging up his coat.

"Hi dear," the woman yelled back happily, "I'll just be a minute. Go on ahead into the living room."

Hermione put on her sweetest smile while she waited for Avery to make his appearance. She was going to have fun with this.

When Avery walked into the room, he couldn't comprehend what he was seeing. His eyes looked as if they were going to pop out of his head, his mouth dropped forming a perfect 'O' shape, and his face lost all color. He started to stammer and mumbled words, none making any sense at all. Hermione took advantage of his sudden state of shock to quickly disarm him, catching his wand and placing it lighting in her lap.

"Hello Avery," Hermione said as if they were old friends, "I'm terribly upset that Severus and I have never been invited to this lovely house. My feelings are hurt—aren't yours Severus?

Severus nodded his head and drawled, "Quite hurt dear. Which is why I took it upon myself to invite us over for some bonding time."

Avery's head was turning from Hermione to Severus, still in complete shock over the situation.

"How—," Avery started to ask but was interrupted when Aunt Beth walked into the room. She was an old, pleasant looking woman, and was also surprised when she saw her unexpected visitors.

"How about you and your Aunt take a seat," Hermione said as if it were her house and they were the visitors, "We have so much to talk about."

Avery led his aunt over to another couch, opposite from where Hermione sat.

"How did you find out?" Avery asked, "No one is supposed to know about this place."

"The blame must be put on me," Severus began, "I am a very smart man, Avery. Very talented at researching."

"He really is," Hermione said smiling, "Now Avery, you are going to listen to us very carefully. Or we may have to tell The Dark Lord that the woman who raised you is a Squib. We both know how much he hates secret—especially one that should have been killed when you became a Death Eater."

Avery's head snapped up to look at Hermione and he growled.

"The Dark Lord will be told nothing about her. I will kill you if I must."

"Now, that really is the reason we are here," Severus said sharply, his voice cutting through Avery like a knife, "You have already almost killed Hermione. Or have you forgotten last week?"

Avery looked very scared as Severus continued, "Personally, I did not enjoy watching Hermione nearly bleed to death because of your Slicing Hexes. Maybe we could ask the Dark Lord to perform them on your Aunt so you know what it feels like?"

"God damn you Snape!" Avery bellowed, his face rapidly changing from white to red, "You are doing all this cause I hurt your whore? Our Master didn't even care this much and the little bitch is his favorite pet."

Severus's eyes narrowed, hate radiating from his body.

"Hermione, would you like to do the honors?" Severus asked.

"Why, of course," Hermione said sweetly, "I thought you'd never ask. _Crucio._"

Avery was not expecting the curse, and began to scream seconds later, sliding onto the floor. Aunt Beth began to scream as she watched her beloved nephew writhing on the floor. There was nothing for her to do but sit and watch.

Hermione ended the curse five minutes later, and looked at the twitching, sweating man on the floor.

"We could do that again, or did that teach you to watch what you say around me, Avery?" Hermione said darkly, "I like to play just as much as you do."

"What do you want?" Avery said defeated. He knew there was no way out of this situation if he didn't give her what she wanted—he knew how powerful she was and was frightened for both his and his aunts lives.

"I am very aware of what your aunt means to you," Hermione began, "Your parents died when you were three and she raised you as her own child. Of course her being a Squib worried you once you became a Death Eater. The Dark Lord does not spare relatives. You have hid her well—but Severus is obviously smarter than you.

"You will never torture me again. If you are told to, you will only curse me with non-threatening spells. I would make you take an Unbreakable Vow, but I had such a better idea. There is a problem with the Unbreakable Vow—they kill you too quick for my liking. So if you are to torture me enough to make Severus worry even the smallest bit, I will bring you back to this house, make you watch as I kill your Aunt, and then I will very slowly kill you. I will take great pleasure in it. Do you understand me?"

Avery looked at her, absolute terror showing in his face. He nodded, putting his arm around his still crying Aunt.

"Wonderful," Severus said as he stood up, "Just remember to behave like a good little dog and we won't have a problem."

Hermione stood up as well, placed his wand onto the couch, and left without another word.

"I don't think we will be having any more problems from Avery," Severus said, "If only every Death Eater had been raised by a Squib. We could have them all doing our bidding."

Hermione laughed, "If only it were that easy."

They walked past the gate and Apparated into the Forbidden Forest.

"We need to find some free time so we can finish preparing for the Final Battle," Hermione said, "Harry and Ron need training; Dumbledore isn't pushing them hard enough.

"I have always said he is too easy on those two," Severus said as he Disillusioned them so they could walk back to his quarters, "As much as I hate to say it, Potter needs to take a more active role in Order business if we want to win the battle. Dueling, endurance, and tactics are all things he needs to improve on soon."

"If he knew about my role as spy, I could train him," Hermione replied, "We have a huge living room we could train in, if only I could tell him."

"It's not safe yet," Severus said resolutely, "We need to make sure they firmly trust you before we tell them. Dumbledore must be there when we tell them—they look to him for guidance."

They had reached Severus's rooms and made their way inside. Severus removed his robes and placed them on a nearby chair.

"We can plan on Tuesday night," Severus said, "Harry and Ron will have Quidditch practice and I am not patrolling. Now let's drop the topic of those two insufferable boys."

Severus scooped Hermione into his arms and carried her up to his bedroom. Hermione wished they could spend more nights together—she and Severus both hated sleeping without each other. Once they reached his bedroom, Severus placed her on her feet and began to kiss her deeply. Hermione could feel how much he loved her just from this kiss. Their tongues danced together in a passionate routine that Hermione felt down to her toes.

Severus slowly peeled her clothes off of her, kissing down her body as he went. Hermione was humming with pleasure by the time he had finished. With a bit of wandless magic, Severus stood naked in front of her. Their lips met once again in a fiery kiss as they tumbled into bed.

_Hope you all liked it. Let me know what you think! Next up: A trip to Hogsmeade._


	13. Chapter 13: The Slytherins

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter—JK Rowling is the brilliant one deserving all credit.

Chapter 13: The Slytherins

Hermione laid back on the bed and smiled as Severus climbed on top of her, propping himself on his elbows. Severus brought his hand to Hermione's face and brushed her hair out of her face, lovingly caressing her cheek. She titled her head into his hand and arched her back, pressing her breasts into his chest. His eyes darkened in arousal and he brought his mouth down to meet her gorgeous, pink lips with his own.

Hermione pressed her lips against his and used her tongue to open his willing mouth. A deep moan came from Severus as their tongues met and battled for dominance. His hand sneaked under her shirt and undid the clasp in her bra, letting her luscious breasts escape. He found her nipple and rolled it between his fingers, feeling it harden. Hermione's lips broke from his as her head flew back in pleasure and she loudly moaned.

After vanishing her shirt and bra, Severus brought her rosy nipple in his mouth, continuing to torture the other breast with his skilled fingers. As he swirled his tongue around the tip of her hardened nipple, Hermione bucked against his hips, making Severus grow even harder than he already was.

When Hermione felt Severus's hand leave her breast, she moaned in argument but was soon pleased when his hand touched her wet, aching core. Her muscles twitched involuntarily as Severus found her clitoris with his thumb and rubbed it in a slow, sensual motion. Hermione's cries of pleasure filled the room and Severus decided he couldn't wait any more.

He spread her legs wider and was entranced by her beautiful, soaking center. His pupil's dilated from desire and he quickly undid his belt buckle, pushing his pants down. Severus entered her slowly, placing his hands on her hips to keep her from bucking into him. He loved to hear her moans and pleas to move faster—go harder.

"Fuck me, Severus," Hermione groaned, as she tried to lift her hips into his. Severus smirked, finally hearing her begging sent him over the edge. He quickly pulled out of her and seconds later, slammed into Hermione, making her see stars and scream with pleasure. He knew exactly how she liked it.

Hermione's eyes rolled back into her head as she came. The feeling of her inner walls tightening around Severus caused him to come as well. He kissed her neck and wrapped his arms around her. They stayed this way until Hermione reluctantly went back to her dormitory where she found Harry passed out on the couch. He had apparently enjoyed the Gryffindor party a little too much. She levitated him to his bed, and went to bed herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(scene change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The beginning of October brought the first Hogsmeade Trip. Harry and Ron had convinced Hermione that her studies could be put on hold for a few hours to explore the village. Since she had never been, the boys were excited to take her to the Three Broomsticks, Zonkos, and the Shrieking Shack. Hermione was excited as well. She had never been able to see witches and wizards interacting with each other and was pleased that she was no longer cooped up at Malfoy Manor. They walked through the gates and down the winding path, laughing at what Ron had just said.

As they reached Hogsmeade, Hermione was overwhelmed by the amount of people bustling in and out of the shops. Almost every student allowed to attend was present (she did remember Severus saying something about handing out a few detentions for inappropriate conduct after curfew), and there were also many witches and wizards shopping today.

Even though she was happy to finally explore Hogsmeade, Hermione always felt uncomfortable in big crowds. She was not used to being around so many people she did not know. It would have been wonderful if she was able to not worry and laugh along with Harry and Ron, but her guard was now up and there was no bringing it down. She hoped she was just being silly.

Zonkos was a little over the top for Hermione, but she could tell that this was Harry and Ron's favorite shop. I was like a zoo, packed with Hogwarts students, pushing and shoving each other, trying to find the most disruptive trick to sneak back into school. She let Harry and Ron drag her around the building, showing her all the different products that would make Filch's head explode in anger.

After lunch and a delicious Butterbeer from The Three Broomsticks, Harry and Ron led Hermione to the Shrieking Shack.

"You won't believe what happened in our third year," Ron said, obviously trying to impress Hermione, "Harry and I fought Sirius Black in there, but he turned out to be a good guy. We discovered our teacher was a werewolf and a man we thought was dead was actually alive and was a servant to You-Know-Who."

Hermione noticed his failed attempt at nonchalance and painted a look of astonishment on her face to appease him. She also noticed that Harry didn't seem to want to talk about that event. When Voldemort decided that she would go to Hogwarts, Severus told her every detail of Harry's life. She knew that Sirius died and that Harry must feel incredibly responsible for his death. Hermione couldn't say anything about the experience though because his relationship to Harry was never written about in _The Prophet_.

"I think I remember reading in The Daily Prophet that he was innocent," Hermione said quietly, "It's horrible that he spent so much of his life in Azkaban."

Harry has raised his head to day something when, lo and behold, a rather large group of Slytherins appeared from the woods looking like they were about to stir up trouble.

_What the bloody hell are they doing?_ Hermione asked herself. There was no way Voldemort sanctioned this—whatever "this" was. There was a strong possibility that Lucius had ordered them to attack her, Harry, and Ron. Or maybe all the 7th year Slytherin boy, minus Draco of course, had become bored and decided to annoy The Dark Lord's favorite servant. _Probably not._

"What do we have here?" Theodore Nott said with a dangerous glint in his eyes, "Potter all alone with only a Mudblood and a Weasley to protect him." The other Slytherins howled with laughter. They moved to form a circle around them, but Hermione was faster and backed Harry and Ron into the fence that circled the Shrieking Shack. At least this way Hermione could see all her attackers. If she had been alone, there would have been no problem at all. She was much more skilled than all of these Slytherins combined but she didn't want to show how much power she had in front of Harry and Ron. It would definitely bring up too many questions she wasn't ready to answer.

Nott cast the first spell, which Hermione easily shielded. Harry and Ron immediately jumped to her side and started to fire curses at the Slytherins. Hermione was able to Stun the brainless Crabbe and Goyle in 10 seconds but Nott and Zabini were much better with shields. Since Harry and Ron seemed rather occupied by Nott's onslaught of spells, Hermione silently cast a spell towards Zabini that shattered his shield and sent him crumbling to the ground.

As she was about to turn around to deal with Nott, a Slicing hex—_why_ was that spell so popular?—hit Hermione's arm and caused her to stumble. She was extremely close to forgetting about Harry and Ron and giving Nott what he deserved when a very welcome sight arrived.

"What the bleeding hell do you think you're doing," spat Draco as he observed the scene in front of him. His eyes caught the blood on Hermione's arm, and his face turned red.

"Aww come on Malfoy," Nott said, his wand still raised, "you get to play with the Golden Trio all the time. Why can't I get a turn?"

Draco couldn't speak his true feelings on the matter in front of Harry and Ron, so instead he quietly said to Nott, "I think you're quite aware how different this is, you idiot. Do you want to be expelled? You attacked, not just jinxed, Dumbledore's favorite boy." Even quieter he said, "Not to mention how much The Dark Lord will punish you."

These words sunk in as Nott glanced anxiously at Hermione. He lowered his wand and stalked off to wake up the others.

Hermione turned to Harry and Ron, who were panting slightly and said, "Let's go. We need to go back to Hogwarts and report this to McGonagall." Harry and Ron nodded, and both went to stand on either side of her to walk back to the castle. Hermione glanced back to see Draco staring at her intensely.

She knew what that meant. They would definitely be meeting in the Room of Requirement tonight.

**A/N: So I learned something very important when I started writing this story: Do not try to regularly update a fan fiction while you are taking 4 AP classes, applying to eight colleges, and trying to have the tiniest bit of a life. The wait has been horrible (I know I always hate when authors leave their stories...bad me!) but I think I will be able to update more now. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please Review!**


	14. Chapter 14 Part I: The Anger

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter—JK Rowling is the brilliant one deserving all credit.

**A/N: Thanks so much to all the people who added me to their favorites and alerts list. Makes me so happy to see that people are reading. So I have 6 hours til I move into my dorm (it's very late right now), but I wanted to get another chapter up. So hopefully you all will review and make my exhaustion tomorrow worth it. :)**

Chapter 14 Part I: The Anger

Hermione, Harry, and Ron made it back to Hogwarts and into Professor McGonagall's office in record time. It took them about 10 minutes to describe what had happened and during that time, McGonagall's lips grew thinner and thinner.

"Excuse me for one moment," McGonagall said and swept over to her fireplace. She grabbed a handful of Floo Power, knelt down on her knees, and muttered something Hermione couldn't quite understand. Her head disappeared into the fire for a few moments and then she stood up, the fire distinguishing itself.

"Professor Snape will be here momentarily," she said stiffly. Ron and Harry glanced at each other, obviously thinking that Snape would somehow get his Slytherins out of trouble, but Hermione knew for a fact that he was going to be angrier than McGonagall. Two minutes later, Severus swept into the room, his robes billowing behind him.

_He looks so sexy right now, _Hermione thought to herself and had to hold back her smile.

"Explain," he said, his velvety voice dangerously soft.

Apparently Harry and Ron thought it would be best if she talked—the two nudges she received to both sides of her ribs signaled her to take the floor. She began to explain to Severus what had happened and when she finished, he stood motionless.

"Now, Hermione," McGonagall began, "Are you quite sure Mr. Malfoy was not involved in the attack. I am well aware of the amount of times him and Mr. Potter have confrontations.

Harry decided to answer this question. "Surprisingly enough, Professor, he appeared rather angry that his friends where attacking us. It was actually rather strange. I think he realized that this was quite different than a couple of jinxes we usually throw at each other."

McGonagall accepted this answer and turned to Severus saying, "Professor Snape, I would like to be the one to punish the Slytherins. After all, it was my students who were attacked."

Snape looked at her thoughtfully and replied, "And what do you think their punishment should be?"

She looked startled that Snape was actually considering it and quickly said, "One hundred points from Slytherin and a month of detention."

Snape shook his and slightly and McGonagall started to protest. He cut her off and said, "I think 50 points from each student would be more prudent. And two months of detention scrubbing cauldrons without magic." As an afterthought, he added, "But 20 points to Mr. Malfoy for ending the altercation." McGonagall, Harry, and Ron looked at him in shock. Ron's mouth even fell open. Hermione had to try extremely hard to hide her smirk. She ended up pretending to cough so that she could cover her mouth with her hand.

At her cough, Severus glanced at her and gave her a quick but meaningful look. Just like Draco, she would be meeting Severus tonight. It'll be hard to get away from her new "protectors" but Hermione knew she'd find a way. Without another word, Severus turned and stalked off.

McGonagall, shaking her head slightly, said to her students, "I'm not quite sure what just happened, but I approve. If there are any Slytherins out tonight, they will feel my wrath as well. You three may go now and be careful when walking in the dungeons.

When they entered the Great Hall, everyone began to stare at them and then look at the Slytherin table, where all the 7th year boys were missing. The students had also noticed that the Slytherin's point hourglass was significantly lower.

"Word really does travel fast in this school," Hermione muttered and Harry and Ron nodded. From what Severus told her about Harry's years here, he had been a large topic of conversation every year. _Poor guy can't catch a break,_ Hermione thought, _That'll be changing soon, I hope._

After a delicious dinner, Ron invited Harry and Hermione back to the Common Room so that they could relax and tell the curious Gryffindors what happened today. Just as Harry was about to say yes, his very furious girlfriend stormed into the Great Hall and made a beeline for Harry.

"Were you even going to mention to me," Ginny spat angrily, "That you were attacked today? Don't you think that is important enough to tell your girlfriend about even if you decided to abandon her on the FIRST Hogsmeade trip of the year."

Hermione thought that Harry would drop his head in shame, apologize, and go off to the Common Room with the both of them. Instead—

"You know what Ginny," Harry leapt to his feet, towering over her, "I'm quite _sick _of listening to what you think I should do. I'll do whatever the hell I please now because I am not your boyfriend anymore."

Ginny stood there, completely dumbfounded.

"Actually, Ron," Harry said, "I think Hermione and I should get started on our homework (_I'm done with my homework for the next two weeks, thought Hermione)_ so you'll just have to fill them in yourself. Are you ready to leave?"

Harry had turned to Hermione, and seeing his begging eyes, she abandoned her half-finished meal, got up, and began to walk with him back to their rooms.

"Are you OK?" Hermione asked gently.

"Yeah," Harry responded gruffly, "I just never realized how clingy you girls are"—Hermione gave him an annoyed look—"Well, at least some girls," he quickly clarified, "She was always hanging on me and wanted to kiss me and it was rather annoying."

Hermione laughed. She could kiss Severus all day and it still wouldn't be enough.

"You just haven't found the right person, Harry," Hermione said smartly, "One day, I'll walk into our Common Room, and you'll be snogging some girl senseless."

Harry just grunted and they continued to walk to their rooms. When they arrived, Harry threw himself down on the couch and began to pull his books out of his backpack.

"Do you really plan on doing homework?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Might as well," Harry muttered, "I don't want to fall behind. Who knows what will be going on later in the year?"

He was right. The end of the war was growing closer and he still didn't know her true identity. Hermione had really grown to like Harry and Ron and felt their relationship would grow a lot stronger as the year progressed. She wished she could train them to help them prepare for the approaching final battle. She started thinking about what she knew about them and what their weaknesses would be. Ron was hot headed and needed to work on his control. Harry unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on the way you look at it) wasn't cruel enough. At this moment, Hermione just couldn't see Harry murdering anyone—even a bastard like Voldemort.

"Hermione?" Harry said, interrupting her musings.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" Hermione replied.

"I, well, um, I was wondering if maybe we could, um, talk about Voldemort?" Harry said very quickly.

Hermione looked at him, surprised. Maybe he was going to talk to her about the Order. He had mentioned it at the last meeting.

"Sure, Harry," She said, trying to sound encouraging, "What would you like to talk about?"

"Umm," said Harry his cheeks turning red as he looked up at her, "I was wondering what your feelings about Voldemort were. I am pretty positive you're against him because you're friends with me and were sorted into Gryffindor, but I want to now have active you'd actually want to be in destroying him."

Hermione looked at Harry and made a quick decision to tell him the truth—at least a little of it.

"Voldemort had his Death Eaters murder my parents as a child. I'd prefer people didn't know—even Ron. I think you can understand seeing as how much publicity you have to deal with." Harry shook his head quickly. Hermione continued, "It was really my aunt and uncle who moved, not my parents. Obviously, if word got out to the Slytherins that Hermione was telling people Voldemort killed her parents, word of it would get back to Voldemort. She knew that he be suspicious of her story seeing as it was actually true.

"To fully answer your question," Hermione said, "I want Voldemort in the ground and I would very much like to help make that happen."

Harry was very quiet for a few minutes. When he looked at her again, his eyes were determined and his expression was serious.

"I assume you have heard rumors of my relationship with him and I am going to trust you with the truth. I am the one who will have to kill him, Hermione, and I would love to have you by my side when I do it."

Hermione smiled slightly and replied, "I'll stand with you as long as it takes. We will win this war."

**A/N: As you may have noticed, this is part I of this chapter, so sorry if it ended a little awkwardly. There was no way I could finish tonight but I really wanted to post something because moving in is going to be very hectic and I won't be able to write more for a couple days. Part II should be up by next weekend.**


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